I’m heading off to Ottawa today for the first time in my life (shocking, I know, but I’m from “out West”). My best friend/my sister’s boyfriend who lives in Vancouver is headed out there for an annual conference so my sister (who lives in Montreal) is going to Ottawa to see him/meet up with him. I’m tagging along because I miss them both, and you really only get so many chances to see your family when you all live in different Canadian cities.

I am missing Nuit Blanche, Ladyfest and Word on the Street because of this (plus the concert of a lifetime), but am trading these things in for family partying, going to see the new Wes Anderson movie, my first trip to the National Gallery, seeing the changing of the guard (perhaps while drunk?) and all this in our nation’s capital. There are also plans afoot to drive the car out to the Gatineau to see the fall colours.


And the National Gallery is showing Douglas Gordon’s Zidane video while we are there, which I (and Dylan, who’s a huge soccer fan) are both really pumped about.

____________________________________________________________

I started my new gig at Canadian Art yesterday and loved it. The office is beautiful and full of natural light, plus my bosses and co-workers are laid back yet like their jobs (and work in publishing, which seems like an impossible combination to achieve). I’m enjoying being around other people who just wanna talk about art, but in a not-so-academic, very approachable way. I get to start working on my own mini reviews of Toronto shows for the website, which I’m thrilled about. I think it will be great experience to try and write about art succinctly and convincingly in a venue outside of my school program.

____________________________________________________________

I realized just the other day that I’ve been living in Toronto for a year now. My life in the city is so different now than it was then and I feel much more comfortable in it, and in my own skin. I love the fall here – we don’t get the changing leaf colours in B.C. the way you do out here. Changes are happening for family and friends right now, and for me, but it mostly feels like good and healthy change, even if it’s a bit difficult at the time.