Categories
2006

koreatown

lunato was waiting for me in a pizza pizza restaurant on Bloor street. she had left earlier during the day and had gone to Koreatown after her classes. she just wanted to visit the area and the numerous shops that make up Toronto’s Korea town. it is located roughly between Bathurst and Christie along Bloor street west.

after work i took the subway down to Yonge and Bloor and then west to Bloor and Bathurst. i found her drinking chocolate milk in a pizza pizza restaurant. we shared a Chicken Bruschetta pizza slice before getting out of the restaurant. you should try it, it is pretty nice. much better than a standard cheese slice; full of oil, ugh.

lunato’s new Nokia cellphone had arrived earlier during the day. she signed up with Fido for a three year plan and recieved the phone for free. it is a nice phone but it’s lacking a digital clock display on the front. i had tried to convince her to get a better phone but we’d have to pay extra for it. she had told me, “just like you, i don’t care so much about cellphones either. as long as it works, i am happy.” match made in heaven, eh :D

she showed me around Koreatown. there are lots of restaurants and many convenience stores as well. we explored the north side of Bloor street and then the south side before finally deciding to visit Ka Chi restaurant for some much needed refreshments. their ddukboki was nice!!

rather than taking the subway back to Don Mills, we decided to walk to downtown. the annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was taking place and we saw a crowd gathered in front of a hotel. there were rumours in the crowd that someone famous is going to come out soon and get in the limo parked in front.. so we waited. we wanted to catch a glimpse of someone famous from Hollywood. but after waiting for 40 minutes, no one famous had exited from the hotel. doh.

the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is currently undergoing expansion and renovation. to be honest, the new design is pretty bad. really, it’s horrible. when we first saw it we thought that a nearby building had collapsed and the clean-up crew was on the scene taking care of business. but, unfortunately, they were actually building that horrendous structure.

Koreatown Koreatown Koreatown

Koreatown Koreatown Koreatown

Koreatown Koreatown Koreatown

Koreatown Koreatown Koreatown

Queen’s park was close-by and lunato hadn’t seen it yet so we changed course and went there. it’s a very relaxing park and had quite a lot of magnificent trees. there is a giant sculpture of some old, famous, now-deceased, horse-rider in the middle of the park that looked quite impressive.

by this time we were pretty far off the original path so we took a cab to City Hall. i was pretty confused about where we were as well. i had lost my sense of direction.. as in which way was North, South, East, or West so a cab was the obvious and easiest choice.

Categories
2006 Events

by the way, we got married

the ONE ring

“When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition until death do them part.” – George Bernard Shaw

Categories
2006 Ottawa

a perfect circle

two years and ten days later, lunato was in Ottawa again. dooh was more than happy to be our gracious host and we stayed with him for three days and two nights. Ottawa didn’t change so much during this time.. all our favourite hang-outs were the same. Shwarma Laguna was exactly like how it was before. the meat-pie place was exactly the same with the same staff even!. Carleton’s campus changed a lot though. new hockey rinks (two of them!! sheesh, my tuition paid for all this and i can’t even use them) and major upgrades to the University centre.

we arrived in Ottawa late at night on the 29th and visited downtown with dooh for some drinks (that’s Pepsi, Sprite, and Ginger Ale.. lol) and then crashed at dooh’s apartment. saturday we spent with shekhar, andrea, diar, tony, and zaynab at T&Z’s nice cosy house in Aylmer, Quebec. actually the very first time lunato and i went somewhere together was when we visited andrea when she participated in the Fleurs de Macadam festival in Aylmer. this was back on May 30th 2003.

tony and zaynab were excellent hosts. they have a lovely house in Aylmer. we were visiting them for the first time and both lunato and i were quite impressed with it. the back deck was especially nice with its own jacuzzi. the pizza, cake, and ice cream were delicious as well.

Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006
Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006

saturday night was memorable. the clubbing scene in Ottawa might be small compared to Toronto but once the music starts and the dance floor gets crowded it is probably just like any other. as always, whenever we (shekhar, dooh, lunato, and i) gather together we reminisce about the “good ol’ days” and wish naraku was with us as well. we drank to his good health though (again, Pepsi, Red Bull, and Coke.. ah such losers :P)

Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006
Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006

after sleeping late into sunday afternoon, we packed ours bags, said tatahs to everyone, promised to visit again soon, and headed home after a quick stop at Carleton. the last time i had visited the campus, the UniCentre upgrade was still in progress. the extension of the building was complete now and it looked quite nice. the old tortuous staircase is, sadly, gone and is replaced by a much better one; one that does not force you to climb a 45° incline. it was good exercise for all!!

Ottawa - August 2006 Ottawa - August 2006

ah Ottawa… good times.