Long weekend, with a stiff neck and truck protests

It is a long weekend here, with Family Day on Monday. Due to putting in a ridiculous number of extra hours recently, I decided to take this past Thursday and Friday off from work.

I have enjoyed this extended long weekend, except that I tweaked my neck, so it feels stiff and also affects my left shoulder. All this weirdness happened on Friday. The stiffness and pain has subsided a bit, so things are mending

On Saturday, I was supposed to pick up an order of food downtown. The problem was that the police decided to put blockades up to limit the truck protests. Due to these blockades, I couldn't get to this eatery to pick up my food. I spent a good 1.5 hours in traffic and decided to give up. I let the eatery know and the woman was nice to credit my account for a future food purchase. How nice!

I had bought crispy pork belly and vegan coconut jelly desserts. I am a bit bummed about not having them, but I hope to order them again when they are back on the menu.

Weekend and Immersive Van Gogh

The weekend is here. 

Later on today, I'm revisiting the Immersive Van Gogh experience. In early July, I did the drive-in version. I ended up getting free tickets to do the in-person experience once the place reopened. It has!

The downside was that the place never disclosed how to get these free tickets until I sent an e-mail. I had to wait a few days for a response. I finally got a code to use on their site to get my tickets. However, the code was invalid.

So, I had to send another e-mail with a screenshot showing that something was wrong with the code. Sure enough, it was some weird issue on their end. I used this code again after their fix and it worked. yay!

I'm looking forward to this outing in downtown Toronto.

A different kind of Monday

I am taking Monday off from work in lieu of working the hours late last week. I have a relaxed, yet somewhat adventurous plan.

I do need to vacuum my car. Here's hoping that I can do it safely. I suspect that it won't be all that busy.

Last week, I was hoping to venture into the city. I never made it. Instead, that's my goal for today. I'm now picking up two food orders. I also hope to take in the new Toronto sign that was recently installed.

After that, I may visit either a cafe that is offering a free beverage or visit my old neighbourhood where I grew up to reminisce.

Downtown today or Saturday?

I'm debating whether to drive down to downtown Toronto to check out a takeout deal and the new Toronto sign after work today. I have a feeling that it won't be that busy and that I can take advantage of taking photos of this sign. 

On the other hand, I could do this trip on the weekend. Both the food deal and the sign will be there. The downside is that there will be more people.

At least I have options! I tend to go out on Wednesdays to get groceries. I'd be going to a different grocery store, which is cool.

Concert and achiness

On Monday night, I went to see a concert in the heart of downtown Toronto. It was amazing. I was on my feet for nearly three hours, dancing, cheering, and singing.

I tend to park several blocks away from the concert venue. Let's just say that I got a pretty good workout that night.

The band was amazing. The music was great, as expected. I had a great time.

Naturally, with all that dancing and walking, my legs were achy. Yep, I'm getting old.

It was well worth the pain to go see this band play live.

Concert and parking lot changes

The other night, I went to see a concert. I had a fabulous time!

I used to work downtown. I have a particular parking lot where I park and walk over to the venue. It has been roughly a couple of years since I have parked at this lot. It has changed! It no longer is dumpy. Luckily, the price is still right.

After the show, I walked back to the building in which the parking lot is located. The security guard and I had a brief conversation. He was pleasant and asked me if I was going to the parking lot. I was and even indicated the level. He was kind to point to the elevator that would take me down. I had used a different elevator that got me on the mezzanine level earlier in the evening. I thanked him and continued on my merry way.

Unfortunately, leaving the parking lot was annoying. The person in front of me could not get his payment method going at the exit area. After patiently waiting for him to get his transaction done for five minutes, I went to a different kiosk, put my ticket in, and left.

I do like the new parking lot. The parking spaces are wide, which prevents idiots from dinging my car if I am parked next to them.

My guy misses me - scheduled date night on Sunday

My guy had thought that he would be dropping by the office last week, but that visit didn't transpire. So, he spent the entire week working from home.

Work continues to be crazy. I get along well with my team, which is a plus. However, there are challenges with two of the three writers that I work with.

The scary thing is that the next senior technical writer isn't exactly a trained writer. She is technical, which makes understanding how our software works easier. However, her first language isn't English, so I end up teaching her technical writing 101.

I like teach folks how to write better. The downside is that it puts a damper on actually producing quality work when you have a writer who you have spent a ton of time working on writing mechanics and they don't fully sink into her head.

I also have to have a side discussion with her about business writing. I don't think that saying you folks twice in the same sentence to an audience of software developers and project managers to be professional. Sure, you want them to respond to your e-mail, but it should not be that informal in tone.

The other new writer is not assertive. It's who she is. Writers tend to be shy and quiet by default. I am half of that, so I am a bit of an exception. I am quiet when I work and I am okay with that. However, I am far more social than these two writers combined.

Anyway, I just went off on a tangent that I wasn't expecting...

Oh, yes. I can tell when my guy truly misses me. He sends me more e-mails and tries to contact me more than he typically does.

On Friday, he had forwarded his travel itinerary. It had a notice about getting an e-visa as a visitor to Turkey. He will travel there next weekend. I will follow suit a week after that. I had meant to write back to him, thanking him for sending it to me. Things got busy at work that I forgot.

Later in the day, my guy sent me another e-mail, asking how my week was so far. He was chattier than usual, telling me about how his week was boring, but productive. He also wished me a good weekend and reminded me to set my clock back an hour for Daylight Saving Time.

I didn't respond to either e-mail. I had to head home and prepare to shell out goodies to Halloween visitors. It was a lot of fun, despite the evening being rainy and cooler than it should be in late October.

I logged on to my computer after midnight. I went to shower. I came back maybe twenty minutes later and my guy was on Skype, wondering whether I would be awake.

As most of you know, I tend to write blog posts after midnight. I am a strange creature. I am a night owl who has no trouble getting up early in the morning. Don't ask. That answer will take another blog post to sort out.

We chatted and caught up. I told him about getting my new passport in the mail the other week. We talked about the e-visa application (it takes five minutes to complete and cost $60.70 USD, which is frankly a ripoff, but must be done).

He also told me that he would be in Toronto on Sunday. He teaches a course on the side.

"I'm downtown," he told me.
"Wow, that's different," I replied.
"Noon till 6 pm."
"That's a long time," I said.
"Yes," he responded. "I miss you."

It is significant that he said that he missed me. Most of the time, I am the first one to mention that. I told him that he was sweet and that I missed him, too.

I had suggested that we could do dinner after he was done with his course, if he was game. He was.

I asked where he would be downtown. He had an idea of the address, but he didn't know if the street ended with East or West.

"I have to go back to the e-mail," he told me.
"Oh, no. That could be an issue for directionally challenged guy," I replied.
"But, no problem for cute Asian girl," he teased back.
"You're so sweet. What's wrong with you?!"
"I guess I just miss you."
"It's nice to hear that I'm missed. You haven't said that for a while."
"When I'm in a good mood, I always miss you."
"Well, I hope that your mood continues to be good."
"Me, too."
"It'll good to see you downtown."
"It's good to see you anywhere," he said sweetly.

He was definitely in a good mood. It's nice to have a date night, especially on a Sunday, when you typically dread the fact that your weekend is nearly over. Spending it with someone special makes going back to the work following day far more bearable.