~*...those who hear not the music...*~

wow, what a rush! i just got home from the best walk across queen street ever. after an evening of working on contract details at my friend will's place (thanks so much will), i left queen and parliament and began my journey towards my home at queen and bathurst. my ipod was playing this set and i started to groove. i decided i would completely surrender to the music and start flowin' however the music dictated. i'm not talkin a head nod, i'm talkin full out dancin, spinnin, shakin, even at red lights. with these headphones in my ear, the world and the sounds around me ceased to exist, engulfing me in pure sexxxy house goodness. and when you are very familiar with a set, you know what's comin up next for you to shake your ass to.

at one point, a guy began dancing with me as we journeyed together across queen street. i danced across the subway grill at nathan phillips square, grooved around people smoking outside of the rivoli. i never stopped the flow, and daam was it ever fun.

i'm sweating from 40minutes of continuous dancing across queen street. i can't remember the last time i listened to one of my favourite sets and danced non stop.

this city is vibrant at night, and every colour of the rainbow shines proudly. i'm gonna miss this city when i'm gone.



those who hear not the music think the dancers mad

normaste

~*...happy birthday erin...the first ride of the season...*~

on saturday my friend erin came to town to celebrate her birthday. i went to university with erin, and she lived in toronto up until last year when she moved back to north bay. she is a beautiful soul who never ceases to inspire me with her kindness and peace. you can't help but smile when you are around her.

erin and i made dinner and enjoyed a great meal sharing stories and insights before heading over to danielle's place. danielle and erin lived together before erin moved back to north bay, so she was excited to see the birthday girl back in town. did i mention that it was erin's birthday? i would tell you how old she is, but...who says we're not supposed to ask a woman her age again?

our friend tucker had just moved into a new place around the corner from danielle's and was having a housewarming party. erin and i picked up a poinsettia as a housewarming present (excellent idea d). it was kewl to see tucker's place, which is the same design as danielle's place, decorated so differently from danielle's. nice work tucker. the place looks fabulous! and you're makin yo momma proud.

it was funny to see where the beatz at tucker's party were coming from: an ipod connected to a very old motorola base cabinet sound system. it was such a funny contrast to see 20th century technology and 21st century technology harmonizing together. its the age of the portable digital music player, and ipod is prime minister.

we called it an early evening and headed back to my place just after midnight. erin is an early riser, and i was planning on making my first turns of the snowboarding season the next day. i can't remember the last time i went snowboarding in november here in ontario, so i wanted to get a good night's rest before pushing my body to the limit on the hill on sunday.

erin left early sunday morning, and i waited to hear back from my boy alex about riding. if the weather wasn't cooperating, he was not going to go. thank god the rain didn't fall that morning. i met up with alex and his friend larissa at downsview station that sunday morning and began the first journey to the mountain for the 2005/2006 season. our destination was mt.st.louis moonstone just outside of barrie. we got there at 1pm and rode until 4:30. i was blown away at how much snow there was on the hill for november. moonstone had 6 runs open as well as the park. the snow was plentiful (for november) and the kickers in the park were smooth.



no, the above pik was not taken on sunday...i only wish it was snowing that much right meow. but somewhere in canada it is, and i plan to go live there.

what a great afternoon riding with alex and larissa. it was so amazing to get out and ride this early in the season. and to think that in a month, i'll be riding every day! i can't wait. this season is going to be the best season evar! now the big question is big white or whitewater? maybe you can help me with that decision...choose your norm adventure.

normaste

~*...another good friday...*~

what a busy friday night i had. where to begin, where to begin.

my evening began with dinner at salad king just north of dundas square, the place where the epic pillow battle took place just two weeks before. salad king is a thai restaurant known for its authentic thai cuisine at affordable student prices (it is pretty much on the ryerson university campus). the tribe magazine krew had reservations at linda's, which is the sit down more stylish upstairs section of salad king. the food is still the same, it just costs a bit more. yo'ure paying for the sit down atmosphere and the added service. it was awesome to chill with so many people that i interact with on a daily basis on tribe. sometimes we forget that the online nicknames we use have real people behind them. the anonymity of the internet is revered by some, but for others, like the ones at linda's friday night, putting a name to a face is even better than being just an online nickname.



yes, this is actually a pikcha taken on friday at linda's! thanks to my boy bobby (yes, the one who got married this summer, the one who i geek out xbox 360 style with) gave me his old digital camera. its an epson photo pc800. very old skewl. runs on two aa batteries, which eat up power when you use the view screen. its heavy, has no zoom, a max resolution of 2.1megapixels, and has 64megs of ram. i love it. thank you bobby! i am so happy to finally have a camera again. i've been naked without one.



salad king/linda's is known for spicy food. their spice is measured by chilis: 1 chili being the mildest, 20 chili being the most insane! i'm pretty happy with 5 chili, and that's comin from a jamaican. anything more than 10 is just pain, not flavour, imho.

after dinner, i jumped on the streetcar and headed towards a bar called smiling buddha to link up with the burning man krew. it was my friend juicy lucy's birthday, and i couldn't miss that. plus, hanging with the burning man krew is refreshing. people of all ages, sizes, orientations, celebrating together. i don't normally get that kind of diversity in age when i roll with other groups of friends. i find like attracts like, and the first similarity people are attracted to are people close to their own age. people enjoy hanging out with others who share similarities, and that includes age, heritage, and musical tastes. the burning man krew brings all of them together. i dig that.



happy birthday juicy lucy! its always fun to see you girl. i also got to run into my friend dani. she rawkz my world too. i keep some grooby ass people in my life.



hmm....my smile iz pretty intense. in the above pikcha i tried toning down my smile for the camera. methinks i like the result a bit better. i dunno, what do you think?

after smiling buddha, i headed over to the now lounge in the gaybourhood for my friend ian and chris' 30th birthday party. i've known ian and chris since grade 4. holy shit, that's like 21 years ago! you can't buy these kinds of friendships. it was great seeing so many old skewl markham faces at their party. it seems like everyone there knows me by my first name, leighton, before they know me as norm. i'll also answer to 'hey you'.



the beatz there were great, and the vibe was a perfekt small and intimate atmosphere. i believe i had the desired effect, but i still had one more place to go.

after last call, i jumped in a cab and went to 99 sudbury. this place is pure old skewl. its an old warehouse space about a 20 minute walk away from my place. the parties that i've enjoyed there have been nothing but old skewl good times. warehouse space, after hours booze, dark, great (and shmammered) people, good beatz, and no security. hell, you could bring your own booze if you wanted. you can smoke cigarrettes, smoke weed, go to the bathroom with a girl, just not have to worry about the kinda things you normally worry about at clubs. this place has opened and closed many times, and i've been there drunk many times. this time, however, i was searched at the door and the dude checked my bag. wierd. plus, there was actual lighting hanging from the ceiling, as if the place were a pseudo club (also making it much brighter in there). wierd.



but the people were still wikkid, and drunk...yes after hours booze! we did get kicked out at 5am though. wtf is that? 99 sudbury, when it was open before, was always the place to go party until 7 or 8 in the morning, with booze! a lot of changes to the place, but i still had a great time.

i ended up at my friend irving's place to chill out after we were kicked out of 99 sudbury so early. after a beer i was toast and walked home. what an action packed friday night.

normaste