~*...christmas at queen's park...and darth vader...*~

on friday i rode my bike through my first snowstorm on my way to queen'z park to hear my mother sing in the civil service choir. the snow wasn't really snow, at least not after it hits the ground. in the city, snow is dark grey slush, and its not very pretty. riding a bike in it got me where i needed to faster than if i walked, but i got splashed a few times and my clothing bears the battle wounds of a slushy day in the tee dot.

i really enjoy listening to the civil servant's choir sing each year. even though my mom is a retired civil servant, she still makes an effort to be part of the choir each year. singing christmas carols inside of queen'z park is also kewl. not too often do i get to hang out inside of queen'z park, yet alone sing christmas carols.



the lieutenant governor of ontario, james bartleman, was the honoured guest. when he arrived, they introduced him with god save the queen and oh canada! what the hell does the lieutenant governor do, besides being the queen's representative. what is he lieutenant governing over?



either way, james bartleman read his yearly christmas welcome, and then we got back to the singing. at the end of the concert, they invite audience members to come up and sing the hallelujah chorus from handel's messiah. i love this part. it gives me the chance to sing with my mom, stand on the stairs of queen's park, and totally sing off tune ;)

my friday night was a repeat of the week before...a night in playing video games with graham. my job was to get beer, more specifically the extra strong ale from the amsterdam brewery known as avalanche. man, this beer is 8% alcohol and kicks you in the teeth! the amsterdam brewery is located at king and portland, or as i was soon to find out, used to be located at king and portland. the saving grace of the amsterdam brewery is that the beer doesn't get any fresher than when you buy it at the brewery, and most importantly its open until 11pm on friday and saturday nights. when you missed the 9pm closing time of the beer store, the amsterdam brewery saves lives.

so i walked to the brewery from kensington market only to find the doors locked. on the door was a sign saying "we've moved to 21 bathurst street" with a little map. it didn't look that far. boy was i wrong. they new brewery was in an old abandoned warehouse at bathurst and lakeshore, which took me about 30 minutes to walk to from their old venue. the new space is huge, and i'm happy that the freshest beer in the city now has a new and larger home to bring amsterdam goodness to more people...but holy shit is it ever far. okay, maybe just farther away from my house than they were before, and in winter that's a big deal. whine some more norm, whine some more.

i cross the bridge over the train tracks and make it to the new and improved amsterdamage brewery. the dude workin the store rekognizes me and i continue my whine about the move, how its so far from my place, blah blah blah, poor me. it also seems as if the amsterdam brewery no longer makes avalanche beer, which only intensified my already whiney demeanour. sometimes i can be such a queen. as i moaned about how much of an effort it was to get beer that's not even going to be brewed anymore, the guy working there gave me a coupon and said "here's a free six pack coupon that you can give right back to me now and grab a sicfor any of the other beers we do brew". my world and perspektive completely changed direction with the random gifting of free fresh booze *aaaah* thank you so much for the free booze dude!

randnorm gifting. heh, how can i normify everything? normurai. phenormenon. normaste - i honour the norm in you that is the norm in me ;)

with a free six pack (and $12 more in my pocket than i thought i'd have), i took a cab home. we picked graham up along the way. he had just bought our dinner from the bellwoods cafe, home to the 1lb hamburger and fries for $5. it is a challenge eating a pound of ground beef in a single sitting, but possible none the less. graham and i have learned to eat only half of the burger with all of the fries (covered in gravy of course), and save the other half for later. playin vidz, drinkin beer, and puffin rootz can definitely give you crazy munchies.

i had joked to graham earlier that i would give him a present if he bought dinner. when he agreed to buy dinner, i said "kewl, wait, now i have to buy you a present. oh well, the dollar store is on my way home." that was before my journey to a far away land to find free dutch ales *mmmmm* so after dinner, i told graham that i didn't get to stop off at the dollar store to get him a present, but i did have a card for him and that he wasn't allowed to look as i signed it in front of him. then i gave it to him with this bowl i had picked up for him earlier in the evening at roacharama.



graham had recently lost his glass bowl, and this bowl was affordable and wanted to be loved. when the woman who sold me the pipe dropped it on the ground by mistake and it didn't break, i knew this pipe could take the beatingz and the love that graham would share with her. graham was so stoked, and he immediately packed it. i said merry christmas to him, then i said "but wait, i wasn't gonna buy you a christmas present anyways, so this is just a random gifting."

we spent the rest of the night playing star wars battlefront 2. man this game just gets better and better the more you play it. as an elite pure bred clone of the 501st brigade, also known as 'vader's fist', this game lets you live the battles you saw in episode 3, and even the movies after (before) that. you get to fight alongside the jedi, then when order66 is given you get to storm the jedi temple and kill every jedi in sight (and jedis don't go down very easily). but the best was playing the battle that opened episode 4, a new hope: capture princess leia and retrieve the stolen death star plans. many bothans died to bring you this information :p



after all these decades, you finally get to play as darth vader, and in the role in which he was first introduced. slicing through rebel scum with his lightsaber, force choking helpless foes from across the room. this game kicks some serious ass.

darth tater kicks some serious spud.







my messageboard is up. come join us

~*...the family i choose for myself...*~

its starting to sink in. i'm leaving this province two weeks this sunday. whoah! and it seems like the best people in my life are making extra efforts to remind me that i have made a difference in their lives. i keep the best people in my life.

on monday, i went out for dinner with my friend maxxxine. i met maxxxine through tribe, and she's a breathtaking gemini. we had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant on queen called fressen. i always have the best times with maxxxine (the extra xxx are because we're both naughty like that ;). her and i talk so openly about sex its refreshing. actually, i have very few qualms about the topic of sex. i think too many people are afraid to talk about sex which often turns something so natural into something taboo. and we have no problem talking about raunchiness without fear. our conversations must have definitely must have challenged the people around us to think differently, as there's no way that they didn't hear us.



maxxxine also has the most gorgeous piece of sleeve ink. man am i ever a sucker for sleeves *drool* and it takes a lot more than just other people feeling awkward to make me stop enjoying a conversation about sex. i guess there's a certain level of consideration that has to be excercized when others are privy to who you are choosing to be right meow, even if they are not directly interacting with you. i prefer to spend my time on where i'm at, and i love the people i choose to share my life with. they blow my mind in so many ways by being windows to new and fascinating perspektivz.

'there's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that others do not feel insecure around you." - marianne williamson

i'm really diggin the new hsbc ad campaign. they are triggering open mindedness in everyone who comes in contact with their message, celebrating diversity in our pointz of view. when i saw the ads in the subway, i took as many pix as i could before my batteries died. i wrote down the quotes from the other posters.


the world would be a dull place if everyone agreed on everything.



a difference of opinion is a healthy thing.



if everyone though the same nothing would ever change.



an open mind is the best way to look at the world.



everywhere you go you get a different point of view.



czech out this hsbc ad for their current your point of view campaign. i guess no matter what your point of view is, everyone understands the language of money. go bankz! go diversity!

on wednesday, i made my first trip moving stuff to my mom's place. i can't believe i'm leaving so soon. so much to take care of, so many people to see. it was so good to have my mom there for me. i love you mom.

i've learned to enjoy our differing points of view, even found wayz to look at them humourously. we were talking about god, and who he is. i was wondering why god is separate from us.

norm: if i was created in god's image, why am i not god too?
mom: don't be ridiculous. you are not god.
norm: then who is god?
mom: god is the creator, he is the father, the son, the holy ghost. he is the divine trinity.
norm: it sounds like god isn't just one thing.
mom: he is all things.
norm: if god is all things, explain to me again why i'm not god?
mom: *grrrrr*

i posted a ~*...god...*~ thread on tribe. the responses got colourful ;)

if the situation ain't doin for me, i'll just rotate my canvas a bit and try to look at the situation with laughter. with my mom, laughing with her is more enjoyable than fighting with her. i guess that applies to most situations for me.

a day without laughter is a day wasted. so true.

~*...normaste...*~
i honour the norm in you that is the norm in me...tee hee. and so the normification of the universe continues.

~*...movie church!...*~

i woke up sunday morning bright an early. 9am on a sunday is very rarely seen by me, at least not after a good night's rest;) i had promised my sister i would join her for church that morning. you heard me right, i said church, the jesus kind of church. she had been telling me about this new kind of church she was attending at the paramount movie theater. church in a movie theater! and the message was delivered in the form of a video projected on the movie screen. movie church is what i called it.



a relaxed atmosphere. supportive friends. thoughtful discussion. life's tough questions. laughter. music. a church for people who aren't into church. the meeting house is a new take on 'religion', a place where people can take an irreligious approach to spirituality through the christian faith. hey, with a pastor that looks like this, you know you're in for a different kind of sermon.

take a look at the meeting house manifesto and decide for yourself.

"Let there be real harmony so there won't be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose."
~ 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT)

church service began with singing and prayer. it had been so long since i was in any kind of church on sunday morning, and it felt good to sing and clap with other people. hey, it doesn't take much for me to get into singin and dancin. and its the most wonderful time of the year, so singing silent night and joy to the world always puts a smile on my face.

the sermons are recorded the week before at the oakville meeting house, and then played at the other meeting places in brampton, hamilton, north toronto, and downtown toronto. this week's message was about http://www.themeetinghouse.ca/media/2005-11-27-466-notes.pdf. they discussed the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by c.s. lewis, and the parallels the story had with christianity. the message included video clips from the bbc series based on the book, and was actually pretty interesting and informative. what i enjoyed most about the message was that pastor bruxy was dressed casually, well spoken, and was actually funny. bruxy rekognized that there are so many different ways to fellowship and commune with god, and that for many people they believe that how they celebrate their relationship with god is the way others should too. he doesn't subscribe to that school of thought, and i appreciated hearing this non traditional view of spirituality through christianity. not having 'religion' shoved down my throat, or "this way is better than your way", was refreshing.

i must say, leaving "church" with trance playing loudly in the background was a fun and welcome change to the traditional, conservative, and orthodox ways i remember church to be. on our way out, a very cute woman approached me and said she remembers me from the hospital a month ago. she was sitting beside my friend lori and i in the emergency room after lori's dog bit her in the face. turns out this girl's name was lori too. we chatted for a bit, and i gave her my card. if you're reading this lori, thank you for making me feel welcome at church on sunday.

i think i just might go to church again next week for the second part of god@the movies. and i loved hangin with my sister. i can see why she enjoys this new approach to church, it really is a lot of fun and very welcoming. religion is being taken to new and interesting places. go movie church!

"men never do evil so completely cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction" - blaise pascal <--- hey, she went to my church, unionville alliance church. she has a a beautiful voice, and evidently a beautiful mind.

after church, thalia and i went to hogtown to look at snowboard bagz. thalia bought me a wikkid hogtown snowboard bag for christmas, as well as this burton toque (in red of course). it has removable headphones so i can listen to beatz on the hill and anywhere else a toque is necessary.







i'm looking forward to trying these badboys out on the hills this season. burton also has a helmet with headphones in em, but the headphone part is not removable. i like the option of having them there or not, and i'm not always going to be wearing a helmet. i'll get way more use out of this toque than a helmet. thanks thalia for the early christmas present.

i also got to try on the volcom shaun white pimp suit jacket. that's right, volcom is making formal wear for their customers. velvetine pimp jackets look daam smokin.

if i had an extra $100 i would've bought it, but that's like two dayz of riding in b.c. i'd rather ride than look good in this jacket. so instead, i took a pikcha of myself in the outfit and put it back on the hangar. yay digital cameras.

look, a motorcycle out and about in winter! only in canada!

thalia then treated me to lunch at the all you can eat korean grill house on queen. i love that place. i know thalia doesn't like it that much, but she made an exception for me.

after lunch, we went back to the paramount theater to see charlize theron in aeon flux.

i'm not familiar with the television series or comic book, so i can't comment on how close it was to the original. but i did enjoy the story, the fx were kewl, and charlize theron looked goddam smokin...especially kicking ass. i was impressed at how graphic her battles were too...they had no problems showing blood.

if you're into cyber goth, this film is pure cyber spy porn for you...from the fashion to the spy gear, aeon flux is pure sexxx.


7/10 dreadlocks from this dredi knight.


charlize theron...*drool*

thanks thalia for an incredible sunday afternoon. i'm really going to miss you when i'm gone.

normaste

~*...buying gear and video games...*~

yesterday i went shopping for snowboard gear with my friend karen. when my friends need someone knowledgeable to go with them to buy snowboard gear, i seem to be a popular choice. i'm not complainin. i love snowboarding, and i love buying snowboard gear, even if it isn't for me. i pride myself in knowing what i'm talking about, and my friends seem to rekognize it. if it means that more of my friends are on the hill to shred with, i'll do whatever it takes to get them on the hill faster and with the right gear.

we started at the source for sports at yonge and eligable (eglinton) and tried on some boots. ask anyone who snowboards and they will tell you that boots are the most important part of your set up. you can have the best board, the best bindings, the best clothing...but if you're feet hurt, you won't be able to enjoy your snowboarding experience. unfortunately, the source for sports didn't have the burton sapphire boots, so karen tried on this year's burton freestyle's. she liked them, but we had two more places to go and i knew that once the sapphire's were on her feet she would not want to take them off. burton makes some quality products...their boards and outer gear is a bit overpriced, but their boots and bindings are solid and worth every penny. i'm rockin the 2004 burton motos...they are the best burton bang for your buck, and i ride my shit hard!

on our way to coast mountain sports, we came across a nutcracker. it's the most wonderful time of the year.

coast mountain sports caters mostly to entry level snowboarders (the motos were the best boot they had, and that's just one step above the entry level burton boot). they focus on complete snowboard packages, so most of their boards aren't for advanced riders, intermediate at most. we didn't find much there at all, so we headed over to hogtown extreme sports. i knew we'd find what we wanted there...they've been around since i started skateboarding and the best selection of quality gear in the city.

karen and i walked the underground PATH to get to hogtown from the eaton center. the path links 27km of shopping, services, and entertainment in the downtown toronto core. its a great way to get around the city in the wintertime and stay warm. too bad most of the shops aren't open on the weekend...the path is used mostly during the week. as we emerged from the underground walkway at metro hall, karen decided she needed a rest and took a breather on a hammock.

hogtown had this year's sapphires, and had them in karen 's size. they were even cheaper than the listed price at the source ($288.99). its so fun seeing people's faces when they put on a pair of quality boots. there's no feeling like it. it just feels right. i've seen it so many times. the sapphires (and the hails for men) are worth every penny. they make your feet feel like should in a boot, heavenly. if i had the cash...;)

karen was very happy with her boot purchase. she didn't find any boards or bindings that really jumped out at her at hogtown, at least within her price range. i always recommend spending the most on your boots. the bindings and board aren't as important, and you can always upgrade those. comfy boots are essential, everything else, especially when you are just learning, isn't as important. we then headed to hells belles to try on a different kind of fashion *rraow*

i love trying on clothing, especially goth and cyber goth gear with hotties. who says you have to buy? try things on that you may never even buy. feel what its like to play the role, and take pikchaz of yourself in the outfit. so much fun. and daam did karen look hawt in some of the outfits she tried on. i'd post pix, but one of the reasons why i am allowed to take the pix i do of my friends in this kind of gear is that they are not to be shared with anyone else. sorry.

after playing dressup, karen and i met up with my friend graham at ho su bistro to grab some take out. we stopped at blockbuster video on the way home to rent two video games, soul calibur 3 and star wars battlefront 2. stupid xbox 360 has jacked up the prices of all video game rentals to $8.99! holy shit! at least i get it for a week, and then can hold on to it for a month for a $2 restocking fee.

karen czech'd out boards and bindings online at my place and ended up purchasing this board and these bindingz. sexxxy set up karen. i can't wait to see how hawt you look with your new purchase.

graham and i, being the geeks that we are, played some soul calibur 3. man, this game is the best fighting game evar. so smooth, wikkid graphics, and awesome characters. only available on the ps2, this game sets the bar very high for all other fighting games to beat.

i pulled graham away from gaming to join me in kensington market for a quick drink with my friend tahira. it was her 34th birthday and she was celebrating at the last temptation in the market.

then it was back to my place to finish the night off playing star wars battlefront 2. this game kicks so much ass. you can play as jedis too, including yoda and lord vader himself. we played until we were too tired to stay up, passed out, and woke up this morning to play even more before beginning our sunday. i love playing vids with graham, so much fun and he takes hi gaming seriously...well, not that seriously.

i'm sure gonna miss these kind of evenings with graham when i'm gone. what a great saturday night.

normaste

~*...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