7am on a weekend morning! I love to be up and about early and today I had the privelege of seeing Toronto before the dawn and reveling in the pre-rush beauty. There is just something so beautiful to me about that. I love early morning.
It reminded me of early morning New York City. Somehow everything seems pure. This sense of light & beauty being right around the corner. The smell of fresh baked goodies for the morning crowds...
Why I love big cities!!! The pre-dawn new life airs that give you a glimpse of a quieter version of the city and give you a chance to witness who works behind the scenes to make our cities thrive...On the extreme end, I love a night on the town. City lights with the promise of wild times and wonderful music...
I have yet to really experience Toronto at night. All in good time:)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
What is excellence?
We definitely live in an amazing age. I have a copy of 4 hour workweek but I've only read one chapter. This morning I listened to an amazing audio interview that Leo of Zenhabits did with Timothy Ferris of 4 hour workweek.
I urge you to check it out here: Leo’s Interview with Tim Ferriss
I urge you to check it out here: Leo’s Interview with Tim Ferriss
Thursday, January 15, 2009
A secret world underground in Toronto!
This city gets more and more awesome by the day:)
I discovered that there are shopping malls underground in Toronto - a whole web of a world with restaurants, hotels & fancy offices all linked to Union Station & the financial district!
This underworld is so large in fact that I got lost for hours trying to find my destinations today - and I'm a New Yorker. That says a lot.
Toronto is a city indeed!
I hope Steve Jobs gets better soon. Send him lots of positive energy & good thoughts y'all. That man is truly an inspiration. Get better Steve!! Take all the time you need to rest and recover.
I discovered that there are shopping malls underground in Toronto - a whole web of a world with restaurants, hotels & fancy offices all linked to Union Station & the financial district!
This underworld is so large in fact that I got lost for hours trying to find my destinations today - and I'm a New Yorker. That says a lot.
Toronto is a city indeed!
I hope Steve Jobs gets better soon. Send him lots of positive energy & good thoughts y'all. That man is truly an inspiration. Get better Steve!! Take all the time you need to rest and recover.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Gyms in Toronto versus Gyms in Manhattan...
Most Toronto gyms are worse than the absolute worst gym you could ever find in New York - except maybe for Bllys which is the worst gym in NYC.
I have worked out at tons of NYC gyms from the skankiest -Bllys to the chic of the chic Reebok Sports Club. I even had a short stint working for the largest chain of gyms in NYC...I do consider myself qualified to make large generalizations...
The beautiful thing about New York Gym is that there is a gym for every personality - Brooklyn has some pretty high quality customer service oriented gyms, especially in the Park Slope area. Mid Manhattan is filled with some classy workout spaces for corporate America including some chic private gyms with private Olympic pools and golf simulators. Lower Manhattan has this very sleek, sexy aerial gym, and there are numerous smaller independent studios for personal training. Also - you have lovely parks - Central & Prospect & whatever exists in The Bronx & other buroughs....
Now looking at TO...
Gyms here suck! Just like the ridiculously overpriced Toronto cell phone plans, gyms in Toronto have no tact and scam clients left right and center. Notorious for this are the huge places like Xtrem Fitness & Gdlife. The top version of a gym exists in racquet clubs around the city & in Yorkville. The issue though - Yorkville isn't all that accessible to the average jobless Joe like me! That said, I've been blessed to find some gorgeous decent facilities such as the Toronto NewsGirls Boxing Club which is a wonderful & positive safe space for women. Also quite cool is the Dynamic Conditioning Center which is an adult's playground where I go to smash tires and drag around the sled on the lovely indoor turf. The YMCA is amazingly clean & pretty classy compared to NYC YMCA gyms.
Overall verdict.
If you like your gym exercise then stay in New York!
If you have dreams of owning a studio gym, move to TO!
In the summer, ditch all gym memberships coz in TO you have the beach boardwalk and High Park, and Central Park is one of the best places to run & bike around when you're in Manhattan...
Happy sweating everyone!
I have worked out at tons of NYC gyms from the skankiest -Bllys to the chic of the chic Reebok Sports Club. I even had a short stint working for the largest chain of gyms in NYC...I do consider myself qualified to make large generalizations...
The beautiful thing about New York Gym is that there is a gym for every personality - Brooklyn has some pretty high quality customer service oriented gyms, especially in the Park Slope area. Mid Manhattan is filled with some classy workout spaces for corporate America including some chic private gyms with private Olympic pools and golf simulators. Lower Manhattan has this very sleek, sexy aerial gym, and there are numerous smaller independent studios for personal training. Also - you have lovely parks - Central & Prospect & whatever exists in The Bronx & other buroughs....
Now looking at TO...
Gyms here suck! Just like the ridiculously overpriced Toronto cell phone plans, gyms in Toronto have no tact and scam clients left right and center. Notorious for this are the huge places like Xtrem Fitness & Gdlife. The top version of a gym exists in racquet clubs around the city & in Yorkville. The issue though - Yorkville isn't all that accessible to the average jobless Joe like me! That said, I've been blessed to find some gorgeous decent facilities such as the Toronto NewsGirls Boxing Club which is a wonderful & positive safe space for women. Also quite cool is the Dynamic Conditioning Center which is an adult's playground where I go to smash tires and drag around the sled on the lovely indoor turf. The YMCA is amazingly clean & pretty classy compared to NYC YMCA gyms.
Overall verdict.
If you like your gym exercise then stay in New York!
If you have dreams of owning a studio gym, move to TO!
In the summer, ditch all gym memberships coz in TO you have the beach boardwalk and High Park, and Central Park is one of the best places to run & bike around when you're in Manhattan...
Happy sweating everyone!
In 2011 I will be my own boss because...
I refuse to suck on Uncle Sam's corporate waxed balls anymore.
To those of you who will forever be part of the rat race, good luck.
I am forging my own path each day & the journey is wonderful. The destination is classy & worthwhile!
(i apologize if that expression offends anyone, but this best expresses how i feel right now. and it's my favorite statement of the day)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Neil Gaiman Quotes
these quotes are the shizzle. so effin funny:
“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”
DA- I think you'll love that quote above. Remember how when we were firsties in college we declared a war against love...if only we had memorized this quote back then!
“I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.”
Yay the rebel in me loves this second quote. effin formal education. i hate it.
“Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”
That is prolly his best quote of all.
"Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and adventures are the shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes and forgotten. "
Credits to Neil Gaiman, ThinkExist.com & en.wikiquote.org for above words.
“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”
DA- I think you'll love that quote above. Remember how when we were firsties in college we declared a war against love...if only we had memorized this quote back then!
“I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.”
Yay the rebel in me loves this second quote. effin formal education. i hate it.
“Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”
That is prolly his best quote of all.
"Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and adventures are the shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes and forgotten. "
Credits to Neil Gaiman, ThinkExist.com & en.wikiquote.org for above words.
Hello Healthy Habits! What I do when I'm blue...
It dawned on me yesterday that the person I was a year ago and the person I am now are different. I have grown immensely. In particular I want to take time to be thankful for this new development in myself. It has been gradually happening over time, but now I can honestly say the following:
I have healthy ways for dealing with adversity!!!
In the past my strategies have been the following:
-Redbull
-Cotton Candy
-McDonalds
-Burger King
-Bagel with cream cheese
-Alcohol
-Associating with riff raff folks
Now, my strategies lately (for when I feel blue) that grow stronger with each day are:
-YogaZone exercise
-Cooking
-Taking a walk
-listening to music
-dancing in my room
-reflective solitude
-reading / listening to/ watching inspirational messages
-Positive visualizations
-writing to my best friend
This post is my way of giving thanks for some new lifetime habits that have taken a long time to cultivate but that will be with me forever.
Meanwhile - I started to think about this beautiful poem I wrote about the blues last spring. I am working on the version of my present wintery blues and one day I will perform and share it on stage...Thank you universe!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
