Thursday July 19, 2:27 p.m.
The Summer of the Gun is continuing to claim casualties. After the massacre on Danzig St., there have been two more fatalities due to gun crime in as many days. There has been the rightful and righteous screaming and condemnation but solid action may still be days away at the very least.
As for me, it's been a pretty quiet week all told. I sent my editing assignment into the boss last night, and got my feedback from him about the prior translating assignment. He was fair...told me good and bad. Just feel bad after my double-checking that I still missed out on one obvious error.
The Wild Guy called me up to say that an old mutual friend that I hadn't seen in several years was wondering if both of us would be willing to see him for some sort of Ribfest or party out in Mississauga on Saturday night. I've declined since it's a bit of a long haul for me from all the way out here, and even before the shooting gallery started this week, I was never all that enthused about traveling the TTC at night, especially on a weekend.
The gun crisis currently plaguing Toronto reminds me of about 20 years ago when I came back from my 2-year stint in Gunma Prefecture. My parents told me NOT to head down to Chinatown. I was a regular there during my days at U of T because of the proximity, the food and the atmosphere (which could get downright rank and chewable during the summer back in those days). But some turf wars erupted amongst the Chinese and Vietnamese gangs which meant their fair share of shooting and other violence. One of former early members of The Anime Court had relatives who owned a restaurant on Dundas St. near Spadina. I never quite found out if the restaurant had been targeted or had been the unfortunate "bystander", but it managed to earn a couple of bullet holes in the window. After that and before I left for Japan for the next 17 years, I had to settle for going there during the daytime instead of having those late-night dinners I'd enjoyed. But it's not so much that I miss my Chinese dinners there; it's just that my freedom to go to one of my favourite areas in Toronto has been taken away due to fear.
