Christmastime in Torontooooo.

Actually, I never really set foot in Toronto over the holidays. I just like the song. OK - I did pee on the side of a KFC off Dundas St. while my sister asked for directions inside. So technically, I set foot and also set a little urine if we're splitting pubic hairs. But I did hang in Burlington, Guelph, Grimsby and Hamilton for extended periods of time, and took a few photos along the way.

Janet and I coughed our way up to Kingston on the Wednesday making the trip in about 7 hours which isn't bad. But it turns out we didn't need to pick up my mother's car as we'd originally thought, so we could have gone Northwest through New York State - straight to Toronto - and saved ourselves a lot of time. So that kinda blew. Coupled with the blizzard that descended for the final 4 hours of the eventual 12 hour trip, it definitely blew. Goats.



The photo of Gooch and Art on the left was taken at the Albion in downtown Guelph. I recognized a guy I lived in residence with ten years ago, and also a T.A. that I'd had for a short-lived psychology course. It was very cool to return to the Royal City after such a long hiatus and recognize people I knew - but that was just the tip of the iceberg. On the right we see Jim, Art, Gooch, Myself and Lynn. This photo was taken at Frank & Stein's where I eventually ran into another Mills boy and Tonizzo who used to work for me at the Bullring. I hadn't seen him since the final night of exams in 1998 so that was a tsunami from the past. Don't cringe - I'm topical.



Christmas day I posed proudly in my new jumper with Beatrix the cat. 'The Bix' is Janet's roomate's and we had to bring her with us because she's still young and not very well behaved. Kinda like Janet's roomate. Bix was fun to have in the car though - her fur improved windsheild visibility much faster than the defrost button. From there it was on to Uncle Richard's for the annual Pye gathering - and as usual it did not disappoint. Most kids are bummed when they get clothes for XMas, but Seth found his robe a whole lot more interesting when I told him it made him look like Muhammad Ali and then taught him a few pugilistic poses. Then I slap-boxed the shit out of him because he's only 8 and I knew I stood a good chance.



Kathy's father, my father and Thomas' father are brothers. Kathy's father spent Christmas in Cuba with his new woman, Thomas' father spent Christmas with us in Grimsby and my father spent Christmas alone in a Trailer in Florida. Well, he wasn't completely alone. He had a cat and a deep-fried turkey there with him. Gordo, if you read this, you're coming up next year. Stop being a... turkey. And finally Beatrix meets Gooseberry for the first of many violent, fur-flying encounters. Which was healthy because it kept Goose from attacking my Grandmother for 5 days. Pet/owner Love-hate relationship there. Basically, the cat loves to scratch the Christ out of her at every given opportunity. It's adorable.

Right. So happy 2005, everyone. My New Years Eve was nothing special so I'll spare you the details. Thank God the holidays are over for another year. I think I'd find medieval torture less stressful.