DO YOU REMEMBER...

Last night I spent five and a half side splitting hours with an old friend, someone who I hadn’t been in contact with in 16 years. No, not a typo… I wrote 16.

It was a two person high school reunion.

I am aware that as a post-modern cynic, I'm supposed to lampoon high school reunions, in any shape, and at all cost, avert re-connecting with people I haven't seen for more than a decade. Honestly, the possibility that the friend I once cherished could have grown into an appallingly bitter adult, did enter my mind. However, the sentimental me, bulldozed the cynical me aside and ran to this reunion with open arms.

Reconnecting with M set forth flashbacks, in brilliant memory-saturated colour. Images of my drama filled fifteenth and sixteenth year swirled about, waiting to be released. The retelling of memories and laughter filled the evening air and nostalgia flowed for a past relived through rose-coloured memories. Luckily, my memories were easier to extract, as I was fortunate enough to have kept my teenage stories, bound between the covers of inexpensive diaries.

The dramatic, life-stopping, whisper-inducing, diary-worthy, occurrences that once generated hours of phone conversations and produced tissues full of tears, were now caricaturized and mocked. Truly, I laughed so earnestly my eyes filled with tears and my stomach muscles ached.

I wished M had kept her diaries; it would have been a very worthwhile read. She had the roller-coaster existence, I was the grounded one.

She and I, for most of our grade ten and eleventh year, were a part of the most cohesive group of high school friends I’ve ever maintained. After M left our high school, the close friendships I developed subsequently sprung from differing cliques. (In my later high school career, I needed an assortment of friends to suit all aspects of my multiple personalities.) M and I did keep in contact after her departure, as promised. However, geography and time eventually ravished the ties that bind. What were left behind are memories of places and incidents, conversations and sentiments, old-lovers and old-friends.

Having grown up in an era without e-mail, cell phones and modern social technology, I never would have thought we’d ever see each other again. As the internet became a part of my daily existence, I did try to search for her through the years, but to no avail. However, Facebook stepped in to intervene (this is the second time it has proven its worth by reconnecting me with worthy long lost friends). It was so wonderful to catch-up with her and to know that she is happy.

'NUFF SAID

5.7km in 1hr, 14 songs on the ipod, 1 adult tricycle coverd in flowers and 1 Urban Asian cowboy.

Need I say more?

EARLY DISMISSAL

Gorgeous weather and an early work dismissal prompted another walk through the downtown streets; from work to Queens Park subway, I completed a distance of 3.5km.

I am loving the atmosphere in the city. The fruit trees in full blossom are a mesmerizing sight and the perfume of spring flowers spread a deliciously enticing smell. After a seemingly long and uninteresting day, sensory stimulating was a welcomed condition.

Behind darkend sunglasses I indulged in my favorite passtime: people watching. Torontonian, on the whole, are quite pleasant looking people.

My route du jour, lead me pass the University. Walking by UofT campus I realized, although I am at least 10yrs their senior, I could easily be mistake for a student. Camouflaged against the backdrop of white earphone wearing, backpack carrying collegiates, I strolled through the grounds reminiscing about my own University days. Where has the time gone.

THE 4TH

"May the 4th be with you!"

No, I am not a Star Wars geek... I do not wear a gold lamé bikini, I do not have any scenes from the series embedded in my memory and I do not spend hours on message boards discussing the virtues and subtext of Lucas' greatest masterpiece.

I just get a big kick from hearing those words, formed in that way, on this exact day!

CITY ROMANCE

Under the dominating death hold of winter, Toronto became a spiritless suitor. As the frost set in, I readily abandoned my relationship with this city. Its wares could no longer woo me. Each day after work, in an effort to avoid the pitiful glares of the beckoning city lights, I ran away as fast as I could, taking comfort in the warm embrace of my home.

However, with warmer temperatures looming, I am destined to fall in love with the city all over again.

In an early bid to rekindling my romance with Toronto, I decided to walk from College & Yonge to Union station, a total of 2.2km. Each block brought reminders of the charm and attraction that this city holds. Its eagerness to embrace an entire hoard of warm-weather-shoe-jockeys onto its walkway was invigorating.

I have resolved to spend more quality time with Toronto. I know I’ve said this before, but this time I really mean it. I am going to make this relationship work for me!