This Used to be My Playground

The good people of my city...well 15% of them have voted in Rob Ford as mayor. I'm not a fan to put it lightly. When he was named our mayor, I could do nothing more but hope for the best and expect the worst, and well the worst is slowly being realized...

Ford has announced that "Transit City is dead". Yes its done. After all that planning, all those contracts, all that equipment bought, he's scrapping the project. Except he ran on a platform of claiming to save Torontonians money. Taxes will not go up, the car tax will be abolished, etc. etc. I wonder where he's going to get this money to build subways? And what about the money already spent on the LRTs? What's our defeict going to be next year, huh Rob?

Now Rob Ford is dense, he really has no fucking clue. I watched his first press conference and I had to sit through his heavy breathing, his stumbling over a very simple speech, and his swallowing of water with his mouth open, which disgusted me more than it probably should have. So being the rocket scientist he is (his team are geniuses as well) he invited senile, out of touch, passed his due date, hockey 'pundit' Don Cherry, who lives in Mississauga no less. Not even Toronto! Cue the mean girl's quote:



to deliver the inaugural speech...

head.desk.

c/o the National Post

That kiss — is that the kiss of death that they give like, ah, I guess that’s what they do around here. Well actually I’m wearing pinko for all the pinkos out there that ride bicycles and everything. I thought I’d get it in.

What’d you expect, Ron Maclean here, to come here? But, you know, I have to, I am befuddled, because I thought I was just doing a good thing coming down with Rob, and I was gonna do this here and it was gonna be nice and the whole deal.

I’m been being ripped to shreds by the left-wing pinko newspapers out there. It’s unbelievable. One guy called me a jerk in a pink suit, so I thought I’d wear that for him too, today.

You know, it’s funny, in those articles my church was, I was made fun of because I go to church. I’m easy to do it that way. I was called maudlin for the troops because I honour the troops. This is the kind of, uh, you’re gonna be facing, Rob, with these left-wing pinkos. They scrape the bottom of the barrel.

But again, I was asked why I was asked. And I asked Doug, Rob, why? And they said we need a famous good-looking guy, and I said, I’m your man, right? Right off the bat.

You know I was asked why, why, why a landslide. And I was in their corner right from the start. I phoned, they phoned me, Doug phoned me, the morning, you’ll get a landslide, and why? Because Rob’s honest, he’s truthful, he’s like Julian Fantino. What you see is what you get. He’s no phony.

And I could go on right now, all the millions and thousands of dollars he’s gonna save and everything, but I’d just like to tell a little story that was in the Sun, I think it was in the back pages. This is a little thing. [City Ombudsman] Fiona Crean, for 18 months, has been trying to get something done with City Hall. And then the story, I think some of you know the story, that there was a little old lady and all of a sudden she got banged on the door, and two guys were there and said, “We’re cutting your tree down.”

You know this is a little thing, but this is to me is a big thing. “We’re cutting your tree down.” And she says I don’t want it, that’s my favourite tree, a hundred year old. “No, it’s down. Cut it down.” And then they give her a, send her a bill for $5,000 for cutting it down. And for 18 months, her son and Fiona were, “City Hall, City Hall, please help us.” Thirty, 40 calls. Unbelievable. Nothing. Laughed at.

Rob’s in the mayor one day. Apology comes, and a $5,000 cheque. And that’s why I say he’s going to be the greatest mayor this city has ever seen, as far as I’m concerned, and put that in your pipe, you left-wing kooks. Thank you very much.

Like, what is he even saying? Why was he invited? Why isn't he in a retirement home eating paste? The fact that he was invited to speak, says everything about Rob Ford and how out of touch he really is.

And what's with the Fantino remark? Who cares, he was voted in as an MP in VAUGHN! Listen, I get that Stephen Harper's plan of the complete conservatising of Ontario is underway, and y'all are excited being because Rob Ford and Don Cherry are right wing-blue collar-lunch box carrying-average joe-millionaires, oh wait-

To suggest that Rob Ford or Don Cherry represent the working class is a load of horse shit. While I'm paying off my student loans, they get to be self righteous and slag off people who dare to ride their bikes to work *gasp*, and immigrants, and our LGBTQ community, from their multi-million dollar homes. The do not represent anyone but the elites that they so readily criticize. According to them if you care about the environment and the arts and social programs you are an elite. Clearly they have no friends in their earning bracket...



Don Cherry's presence was inappropriate, his speech disrespectful to the councillors and the people of Toronto. "Left-wing pinkos" or not, our councillors are democratically elected, and his criticisms were nothing more than name calling.

I won't lie, I am worried what this city will turn into. Stephen Harper, I see your silhouette on the horizon, to take Toronto? Don't be surprised if he does. And if you think this whole Rob Ford saga is unrelated, you're an idiot!

Don't Judge Me But...

I kind of really love this song...SHUT UP!

I'm glad Iive in the city because...

when the subway shuts down during rush hour, I know exactly how I'm going to get home and that's exactly what happened today. I was all by myself. The trains stopped running, the platform at York Mills was packed like a sardine can but I was calm. I knew what to do, where to go, where the shuttle buses would be. I can only imagine what it would have been like for those people who aren't used to the TTC. The city has made me street smart, and self-sufficient, despite the stereotype that city slickers don't know how to make fire, I'd say I'm pretty savy, when the occasion calls.


Stranded? NEVA!!!!!!!!!

Bitch, Please.

This billboard and the the wave of differing opinions about it, really made me open my eyes to the 'Toronto Hate' that the rest of Canada likes to partake in, and I know I have a heavy bias in this but I for one cannot understand it.

I've lived in Toronto my entire life, and I can't recall a time when myself or a fellow Torontonian has called someone from Calgary a redneck Cowboy; or someone from Vancouver a granola eating hippie; or someone from Newfoundland an ignorant noob; or someone from the Yukon a polar bear fighting 'Eskimo'. That's not to say that absolutely NO Torontonian has made an extremely stereotypical, highly offensive remark, what I'm saying is that we in Toronto do not typically make fun of or hate on, other places in Canada, a courtesy that is not repaid, it appears.

If you don't know, the belief is, people from Toronto are rude, egotistical, New Yorker wannabes; and the city itself is dirty, crime ridden, and not a very good place to live, or 'raise a family'.

I can definitely understand that if you're from a small town or a smaller city and you come to Toronto and people are just going about their business and don't look you in the eye as they're walking along front street or zoned out, and listening to their ipod on the subway; that's quite I big shift from what you're used to, and I get that.

And I can understand feeling overwhelmed at the size of our city and kind of missing a sense of community when walking down Bay St. but you have to understand a small town's sense of community and Toronto's sense of community are two very different things, its hard to compare.

My experience has been, your community is where you live and to a point where you work. Toronto is so huge, with its many Burroughs, and districts, you'll find it hard pressed to feel at home on Queen St. if you live in East York but that's not to say that people living on Queen St. wouldn't be warm and friendly to someone from East York. And if you work on Bay St. and you go to the same sandwich shop everyday for lunch then you create a type of community with the people that work there and the people that frequent there. That's community in the big city.

I get, that the inbetweens can seem particularly cold to people who don't live in Toronto (ie walking down the street; taking transit) but its not because Torontoians are mean its because our city is so big; we see can see hundreds of different people everyday and saying 'hi how are you' to every person that sits beside us on the subway car, is a daunting task. That doesn't mean we don't give our seats up for the elderly or help a mother with her stroller or say sorry if someone's foot is stepped on or make funny faces at babies.

Whenever I need help from any of my fellow Torontonians, they've been friendly and accommodating, whether its directions or leaving my bag on the bus, they're always there to help and if someone is rude to me I don't say to myself 'Oh there is a Toronto asshole' I say to myself 'that person is an asshole'. A person is an asshole because, they're an asshole not because, of where they live.

Some people may say that those of us who are complaining, need to get a sense of humour because the billboard is only a joke. However, I'm so sick of all the hate from people who are up their asses about Toronto. And we're the rude, snobby ones? Yeah, okay.

The funny thing is when I meet people from other provinces they're actually shocked at how polite Torontonians are, and when I travel outside of Toronto and people find out where I'm from, they give me flack about the terrible city I live in. Perplexed by their opinion, I always ask them if they've ever been to Toronto, and they all give the same answer: No.

Wow.

Oh and quit it with the mentality that people from small towns have a monopoly on morality and good values because that is definately not the case, so get off your high horse!

Poker Face

I am obsessed with this song! I know I'm a little slow on the uptake because this song has been out for a few months now but that's neither here nor there, the point is, this is a good song. Lady Gaga may be pop, she may be top 40, but this song is dance, trance, hip-hop, and electronica. It really is a good song.

Before I was a HUGE music snob, and if it wasn't endorsed by pitchfork, then I wasn't interested (oh the arrogance of youth) but now I've broadened my horizons and listen to all types of music. Everything from Snopp Dogg to Cut Copy; Johnny Cash to LCD Soundsystem; Girls Aloud to Nine Inch Nails. Music is about feeling 'it' whether that's feeling good, feeling sad, or feeling poetic. Music is all about the emotion whether its deep or frivorlious. I think its time people got off their high horses and just be equal opportunity music fans...except for Nickelback that's like the facism of the music world. HA!