Toronto

Had a doozie of a weekend in Toronto this past weekend.. It was great, very briefly bad, strange, fun, expensive, spontaneous, embarrassing, crazy and scary -- which makes for an overall amazing weekend... Many of the details cannot be made public to protect the innocent (especially my innocence).

I did get to see my friend Laura's new apartment & dog (a pug named Bailey), on the first night, and we all (4 of us) went out to a pub for some drinks afterward. Laura, her boyfriend and another friend left relatively early (from my point of view), so I went onwards into the frigid night on my own, with plans to eventually meet up with Kayla who had some obligations with some colleagues. I ran into her back at our hotel room, where the party continued to rage on with various guests.. I didn't get off on the correct footing with some of these people, as I was trying to get in a side door to the Courtyard Marriott, and these group of jerks wouldn't let me in, and were possibly making fun of me freezing out in the cold (the front entrance was further up the way).. Little did they know that they would be having some late night drinks in a hotel room that was half mine! Some of their continued disregard for my authority (ie asking them not to smoke in our room, or drink liquor that was not theirs) caused me to suggest that one of them leave. Well they were apparently the leader of that group or something, so they all had to leave.. This left Kayla not very happy with my inability to get along with these people... I felt bad for not being able to salvage the situation, and fled the scene into the even more bitter night..

In London heading out into a random direction in the middle of the night while drunk is a fine idea, but not so much in Toronto. Some good samaritan saved me from walking through a crack park (although I had no intention of walking through a darkened park, I, for some reason, pretended I was going to). They took pity on me as a lost out-of-towner (I was not lost) and suggested I stay at their place until I could return to my hotel. I strung a web of lies to confirm that this normal looking person wasn't some sort of murderer, before agreeing to his proposal.. And it was getting very cold and seemed to be closer than the Marriott... Not all Torontonians are out to stab you in a crack park.. He seemed mildly concerned that I may rob him blind in the middle of the night (his apartment was filled with sound and other musical equipment). I didn't rob him blind and returned to the hotel the next morning to a previously worried Kayla (I had to turn off my phone when I went to sleep so it wouldn't die, but called when I got up). I don't see how disappearing in the middle of the night in downtown Toronto should illicit any concern from people (ha ha), especially with someone with such street smarts as myself (ha ha). Lying is something I rarely ever do (especially in recent decades) unless I think it is absolutely necessary and for the greatest good (such as my personal safety). The next morning I felt bad about my deceit and had the good samaritan invited out to our second night of bacchanalia, and to clear up any outstanding lies. We all had a fine time, running into several friendly characters throughout the night... These people were 'invite back to the hotel' material, although perhaps one of them should have been ejected that night as well (although it wouldn' t have been me requesting the ejection this time).

All in all a very memorable weekend to which only a very few will ever know the unabridged version of.

Superbowl Sunday was much more subdued than it should have been for me, as I exhausted all of my party spirit in Toronto, wasn't feeling very well, and was very tired (I very late to the party).. I had to take Monday off of work due to being under the weather (I can only assume it was unrelated to anything that happened on the weekend). Possibly one of the worst-looking days to take off (the day after Superbowl). I didn't have a drop of alcohol though after waking up on Sunday...