Leafs Lose, Ontario Wynne!

Sunday January 27, 12:14 a.m.

Well, it was another day spent figuring out Japanese into English, although I did use my "parole" to walk around the block in the last day of deep freeze before another thaw comes our way. Heading up to 12 degrees by Tuesday! With this pattern of alternating freezing and heating up since the year began, all of us may end up truly tempered by Spring. Didn't make a whole lot of headway in the translation since I got caught in a spate of tricky vocab and tangled sentence structure, unfortunately. At this rate, by tomorrow night, I'll probably have to inform the boss that I will need to pass off the final parts of it to others since I now have Cozy's translation requests to handle as well.

The overarching theme on TV was via CP24 with that Ontario Liberal Party leadership convention finishing up today at the old Maple Leaf Gardens (I heard the Leafs used to actually win Stanley Cups there once). I just popped in on the channel once every few hours to see how the voting was going; unless I were the most ardent of political animals, I wouldn't last 10 hours to watch who was going to win one of those. But at the end of the day, literally and figuratively, Kathleen Wynne got the nod to become the new Liberal leader and, therefore, received the keys to the Premiership of Ontario....for as however long as she can keep them before a Spring election. It may all end up being a short internship for her since the Liberals are not a well-loved group outside of the Gardens.

It was a slight surprise since in the last few days, it seemed that her closest competitor, Sandra Pupatello, was about ready to take over in the media's eyes, but on the third ballot, Wynne won. So, she now not only has become the province's first female premier, but she is the first openly gay premier in the history of Canada. And the wonderful thing is that, although that latter fact was mentioned a fair bit during the coverage, jaws didn't drop or eyes boggle out as in a Warner Bros. cartoon at the news.

But it could be interesting for Mayor Rob Ford. He's never said it openly, but it's generally assumed that he's no fan of the LGBT community. I just wonder how a first meeting is gonna be like.

As for the Leafs, I think I'm detecting a pattern. They take a lead for two-thirds of a game and then lose it all in the end. It's kinda like that Las Vegas sucker who supposedly wins big at poker before the Ocean's Eleven gang wipes him out at the stroke of midnight. Maybe it's time for Coach Carlyle to put his Loonies where his mouth is and start benching a few players.

Toronto's Political Fun and Games

Friday January 25, 10:55 p.m.

Well, let's see. Ontario's losing a Premier under a cloud, Toronto's keeping a Mayor under a cloud. Enjoy the symmetry! For those folks who are completely outside of the Ontario sphere of influence, Premier Dalton McGuinty has probably spent his last few hours in the big chair down at old Maple Leaf Gardens where he's getting his final lionization by the Liberal Party hordes before his replacement is chosen at a good ol' brokered convention tomorrow. Supposedly, the mild-mannered fellow had a pretty good decade at the helm before things fell apart for him in the last 12-18 months in terms of a teachers' strike, and a fiasco involving the very wrong person as the top guy for the province's air ambulance service, ORNGE (as ORNGE you sorry you hired the dummy?), among other things. And I believe there are quite a few protesters outside the Gardens who plan to give him a sendoff of their own.

As for Mayor Rob Ford, I don't think I've seen local media so hyped up for a single political figure in this city in decades....no, let me change that....in ever. CP24, CTV, CBC, City....all of their talking heads were up early this morning to find out if Ford was gonna lose his appeal against the original decision to have him turfed out of office for violating conflict-of-interest laws. But he got the happy ending he wanted....he won the appeal, media just went nuts, and of course, the citizenry got split down the middle in their reaction. I'm just happy it's over (I don't think that counter-appeal by the lawyer and his client who had brought all this down on Ford in the first place will go anywhere); I'm not a huge fan of Ford's but I think it's time for City Hall to return to a relative sense of normalcy....which just means the political brawls are taking place inside chambers instead of outside.

January Thaw

Sunday January 13, 9:13 p.m.

As was the case yesterday, I couldn't complain about the weather today. Was downright boiling at 12 degrees....too bad the sun refused to cooperate. It was pretty dreary all day. However, things will get back to normal as of tonight as we dip down to -2. Strangely enough, according to a photo put up by my Facebook friend in Japan, it looks like Tokyo is getting bombed with the white stuff. But as I've said before, snow isn't exactly an everyyear phenomenon in that area, so I'm sure a lot of kids...and my friend (she's in her mid-thirties but she's got the heart and energy of someone a sixth her age)...are taking full advantage of having snow.

Well, the NHL training camps are in full swing as of today. As would be the case in this city, the press conferences of both the General Manager and the Coach of the Maple Leafs were Breaking News. Haven't heard any news of major trades and I figure if GM Nonis is gonna be pulling the trigger, it will be within the next 24 hours....otherwise, he'll be making some major disruptions to his team. But then considering the boneheaded timing behind the ousting of his predecessor a few days ago, anything can happen.

Got my latest translation assignment in, and I'll probably be getting another multi-day one tomorrow. I'm definitely getting busier....the money coming in will be helpful, especially when tax time comes around. I also helped out a friend of my sister-in-law who'll be coming back to Japan from overseas life; she needed some advice on the Customs stuff. Basically, if she's having goods follow her, she should be prepared for some extra time conversing with the folks in another section of Pearson.

Speaking of which, my sister-in-law and the rest of my extended family came over for dinner tonight. My niece was as cheerful and running off at the mouth as usual. Unfortunately, she was one of the hundreds (thousands?) of kids who got caught in the middle of that Friday morning kerfuffle involving the Ontario government and the teachers' union, not that it bothered her too much.

Was looking at some photos from my time in Tokyo. I took this one back in 2009 as I was walking through the Park Avenue (Koen Dori) area of Shibuya. Sometimes when I look through the shots, I can't believe it's been over a year since I made my return from my second home. I do miss the place at times. Shibuya can be grungy at times but this shot certainly makes the neighbourhood a little more sophisticated.

Regular Monday

Monday October 15, 7:54 p.m.

Literally blue Monday since it was cloudy all day with intermittent spits of precipitation. Dad and I went to pick up Mom. Had a more troublesome-than-usual ride on the roads due to some well-placed accidents and construction sites. Rosedale Valley Rd. was closed off due to a collision so we had to take the real long way to get to St. Clair, and then coming home was arduous since Wynford Dr south of Eglinton was all clogged up.

Ended up with Pizza Nova for dinner tonight. It's been interesting getting accustomed to Canadian sizes for pizza. Just like converting from Imperial to Celsius, the same has to be done for pizza sizes from Japan to Canada. A Japanese large is actually merely a Canadian medium. A Japanese medium is a Canadian small. Pizza lovers in Japan, therefore, will therefore swoon at seeing a Canadian large. And then we had the remainder of my niece's birthday cake for dessert. I think my doctor was probably sneezing his brains out when I took that first high-calorie bite (Japanese in-joke).

Well, what do you know? Dalton McGuinty decides to call it quits. No surprise there; he's basically burned just about every bridge. And after almost a decade, he did live long enough politically to become the villain.

Keeps on Piling Up

Friday September 21, 1:15 a.m.

The parentals are back from Niagara; as usual, they didn't strike it rich. But they apparently got a good deal on the Hilton there. It only cost them a little over $100 but their room had a bedroom and a den. Mind you, the room had a view of the city and not the Falls, but when you consider how many times they've been there, they can easily sleep well without them.

Had another challenging translation assignment due to some stubborn graphics. Luckily, the boss didn't want it lickety-split, so I could get through it without risking a stroke. He will have to do without me for the latter part of next week since I've been called by my other boss at the school to do a four-day sub stint.

Labour Day Weekend

Brant and James in Burlington

Wednesday September 4, 1:15 a.m.

On Labour Day, the Anime Court and I headed over to Burlington for the final Ribfest of the year. I'd never actually been to Burlington...I've only passed it en route to Niagara Falls. However, when we drove into the city, I was impressed at how very scenic it looked. Right by Lake Ontario, it almost looked like a resort town by the Mediterranean. And we couldn't have asked for a better day....sunny, reasonable temperatures and a nice breeze coming in off the lake. Perfect rib-noshing weather.

The Burlington Ribfest is purported to be the largest one of its kind in all of Canada. But to be honest, I didn't think it was any bigger or smaller than the other two Ribfests I visited in Etobicoke and Scarborough. It was located inside the lakeside park, so the view was definitely an improvement on the other two on that point. As usual, each of the rib stands had huge signs overhanging the grills and crews manning them. This time I went for the Blazin BBQ Ribhouse all the way from Chatham.

As usual, the bunch of us went to the different stands and brought over the ribs to be shared. Well, as for my contribution, I think it's fair to say that they were probably the least of a good bunch. The ribs didn't seem to have nearly as much meat as the others. The one thing different about this last Ribfest was that we weren't nearly as big a group as the last two times. It was just me, The Anime King, The Anime Bishop and The Anime Jester, and we all went for the half-racks instead. So we didn't end up stuffing ourselves to the danger point.

This, of course, meant that our stomachs were open enough to engage in that fine dessert accompaniment to any bunch of spareribs, the funnel cake. Not too long after we got our fill of charred protein, we all went down to the far end of the Fest and bought ourselves a good helping of deep-fried dough. My funnel cake had strawberries and whipped cream. Downing that pretty much fit the bill for us for our time.

We were also pretty lucky with the music, too. None of that karaoke stuff on the stage. There were professional bands there doing the slow rock. Very nice to chill out there.

As I said, grand weather for a BBQ and beach. We all took a walk along the shoreline to lose some of the calories in vain. And then it was back to the car for the 90-minute ride back to Toronto. So, my inaugural Ribfests since getting back from Japan were good ones. This year's experience will definitely whet my appetite for next year's big foodie festivals.

The Flying Wallenda

courtesy of Partridge Road
from Flickr

Tuesday June 12, 8:17 p.m.

Well, I guess all that is needed now is for Nik Wallenda to get on that highwire. The logistical hurdles have apparently been all overcome. It's just stringing that wire across Niagara Falls and hoping that the weather will hold up. It's looking good on that latter point: nothing but sun for the next several days, but knowing weather in this part of the country, anything can happen.

Nik's been ticked though since the sponsoring major American network, ABC, has insisted that he wear a harness, something that he's never done. And as a professional highwire walker, this must be akin to the first NHL players being forced to wear helmets. But I can understand the network's position, too. Imagine having to watch the star of your show falling to his death on live TV and the angry aftermath. And as has been made clear, the Wallendas are not infallible. Can't take the chance. However, the promotion has been going full speed ahead. I saw Nik on "The View" this morning and he assisted one of the hosts go across a rope some 18 inches above the floor.

The big show is set for 9 p.m. on Friday. Not sure if Japan has gotten much wind about this, but it will be happening at 10 a.m. Saturday JST so it would be an ideal time for the folks there to catch it. My students, though, weren't too aware of Nik which kinda short-circuited my warmup. Should be must-see TV. Euro 2012 during the day and Nik at night.

The one funny observation about Nik Wallenda is that he kinda looks like a fitter, nicer Mayor Rob Ford.

Fanshawe Fracas

Tuesday March 20, 1:13 p.m.

Last weekend, there was a horrible incident in London, Ontario at Fanshawe College in which a thousand or so young folk decided to go on some sort of drunken rampage. When I first saw the coverage on CTV, I thought the newscasters were talking about London, England where I would usually expect riots. I'd never heard of this Fanshawe College, but it looks like it's become infamous all around the planet now.

I took a look at the Facebook site for the college. There have been the usual messages of anger and horror, but there was one person who was taking a much more proactive, profane and defiant approach. It's all too easy to get on the dogpile and bandwagon and verbally crucify every Fanshawe student...one Neanderthal wrote down that the entire school should be closed down and the entire student body should be busted...according to Wikipedia, there are 55,000 students, part-time and full-time there...which is about the size of University of Toronto's St. George Campus. Supposedly, of the alleged one thousand rioters, a small fraction of them were actual Fanshawe students....out of 55,000.

Anyways, getting back to the proactive person, she was furious, and rightly so, at the trigger-happy self-righteousness of some of these messages. Yup, those students who were identified as being the bottlepelters and firebombers should be bagged and tagged, but to slather an entire city that had never experienced this sort of insanity as an instantaneous den of inquity is way too much sledgehammer. And again, a majority of the rioters were not even students there...maybe they were troublemakers from Toronto or some other region. The cops are gonna have to figure it out.