~*...countdown to the burn...*~

in preparation for burning man, i've been trying to cut back on spending money and going out. i'm not really doing a good job of it, but at least i'm trying. i only go out once a weekend.

planning to survive in the desert is a huge undertaking, especially when you're planning for 10 people! i'm so glad i'm going with people who have already been. about half of our burning man crew have been at least once. i can't wait until i'm no longer a burning man virgin. i've even been thinking about my piece of ink that i'm going to get to commemorate this life changing event...and i haven't even been there!

after our burning man meeting on thursday, august 4, my friends andre and nicole gave me a call. they were downtown celebrating their fourth anniversary, so i joined them at the rivoli for a drink. i was already a bit shmammered from drinking beers at our burning man meeting. by the time i was done with andre and nicole, i was a tad obliterated. stoopid alchomohol.

andre and nicole began the year by adding a new member to their family. ethan christian girard was born january 20, 2005. this year has been a year of babies, babies, weddings, and more babies. i love being unkle norm. babies look good on me, and i love that i can give them back to their parents when they start crying :D

in my attempt to save cash, i stayed in on friday night. it was also my mom's birthday, so i had plans to meet her and my sister the next day at the taste of the danforth. its an outdoor street festival on danforth avenue known for its many restaurants, mostly greek. all of the restaurants on the danforth set up on the street, cook and sell food, primarily smaller portions that sell from $2-$5. thousands of people came out to celebrate in the streets, and eat food from all over the world. this city is so diverse.

my mom is so ghey ;)

after a beautiful afternoon on the danforth with my family, and with a full belly, i stopped by my friend's place to personally convince them that they needed to join me that night for fet@5ive. i can be very convincing at times. that night, four noobs, my friend karen and i got dressed up and explored the darker and playful side of toronto's nightlife. the dark side, it flows through all of us.

on wednesday night, i celebrated my friend tucker's birthday at a swanky little place called the savoy near the canon theater in toronto. we had a blast. good friends, lots of booze, and an unexpected announcement. a friend of ours from university who was there that night came out of the closet. it was great to see him finally be comfortable being himself without fear.

my newly liberated friend and i went out for additional drinks after the savoy and just talked. oh man were we smashed. it was great to hear him talk freely about himself, to see how happy he was to finally be himself without fear. its so difficult to live a lie, and pretend to be someone else all of your life. shakespeare said it best in hamlet, and i wrote this quote on the back of my business card.

to thine own self be true, and it must follow as night the day, thou cans't not then be false to any man. hmm...i may have written it wrong on my card. bollocks!!!

if you're not yourself who are you? when he asked me when i came out, i said i never had to. i'm an anormaly, i just love people, of all sexes, colours, creeds, sizes. i've pretty much made out with anyone for the past ten years, so my sexual orientation has always pretty much been on the table. i play for both teams. no coming out here, cause i'm not gay. i'm definitely not straight either. i'm norm.

on thursday, august 11, 2005, my close friends steve and kate had their first child. elissa clare prentice gee was born at 8:12am weighing in at a healthy 7lbs 13ounces. i am so happy for them. like isa and darryl, i've known steve and kate since before they dated. i shared in their wedding celebrations, and now i've shared in the celebration of the birth of their first child. this year is truly a year of babies for me. dre and nicole had ethan in january, isa and darryl had valentina in february, and now steve and kate had elissa. i am a very happy unkle normie.

on saturday night, august 13, my best friend in the universe mel came over. she had just returned from four months in europe, including a full month walking across spain on the camino de santiago. i love this girl to bits and pieces. she is a goddess, an angel, a jedi, and pretty darn cute too. her and i share a connection that continues to give me strength over 13 years later. a month ago, i was looking through one of my old photo albums in search of an old pikcha of my friend carol from raves of old. as i journeyed through old memories, i came across a great pik of mel and i at a rave in 1996 called utopia. click here if you'd like to hear the carl cox dj set from that night in 1996 (link thanks to seeker on tribe).

i decided to take the pikcha out and scan it when i noticed that there was a note placed behind the pikcha in the photo album. i read it and it made me miss mel even more. she rocks my world. these notes were written before i started archiving everything in my scrapbooks, which is why they were hidden behind a photo in an album.

think of me, but as a smaller italian jewish female, and you've got my best friend mel. i was so stoked to see her. she came over looking as beautiful and radiant as ever, and her skin was even darker than mine! wtf? i'm the one with the melanin. hahaha, mel-a-nin. eye yam sofa king wee todd it.

we went out with mel's cousins and friend aku who had just returned from ghana, africa. mel dressed me that night, which happened to be the same outfit i wore to the star wars episode three premiere, just without the jedi robe, makeup, or lightsaber. i looked hawt dressed like a normurai. one of the bars we went to didn't think so. no open sleeves. its not like i was wearing a basketball jersey or anything, but we didn't argue. i'm not one for places that tell me how i am to dress. but we had a great time together.

after drinks with mel and posse, i ended up at a club called footwork for my friend rob selectah's birthday party. the theme was after school special, and everyone was dressed up in theme. it was like the women there walked out of my fantasies and into footwork. man, the school girl fantasy gets me every time.

yes, there are more pikchaz in my pikcha archive. enjoy.

on wednesday, i made it up to steve and kate's place to meet elissa. its so incredible to see how a child completely changes people. steve and kate radiate, and elissa is adorable. if i had ovaries, they for sure would be hurting right now.

and here i am...up to date on my journeys and home on a friday night. only seven more sleeps until the burn. there won't be too much going on in my life until then, but you can be sure something interesting and worth blogging will present itself before i leave.

namaste

- norm (=D)---