Hitting the Wall, A Well-Placed Vacation Day That Was Not Peaceful, Fun Anyway

Well, it's been coming for a while with all the work I'm juggling, and now it happened.  But first, such cute Mid-Autumn Festival stuff!

#Awwwwww

#TimeForTheChiropractor  #TryingToStaveOffThatCollapse  #HangInThere

#ItWasTime

On Thursday of this week, I hit the wall.  I just kind of stopped functioning correctly at an offsite work celebration that wasn't scheduled and communicated well or set up to be particularly accessible.  Too bright, too loud, nowhere to sit down, no announced schedule, too much time between things, body and brain said:  

#Fair

The message was clear.  So I ignored it and raced back to the office to stage manage a global town hall call.  (You will be unsurprised to find out that I was not quite all there before and during the global call.)

#PreachIt,Squirrel

And then it was!  It was Friday!  And I was a mess!  But I had PLANNED THINGS, DAGNABBIT.  And I was, by gum, going to do them, regardless of how poor of a choice it was.  The weather was going to be perfect, and I am running out of time to do things here, and I would have both weekend days to lie in a heap as though slugged by a mallet.  

#TheFacesOfPeopleWhoAreGoingToHaveFunDarnIt

I refused to be thwarted by the very sketchy online experience trying to buy tickets the night before for the bus.  4 devices, 55 minutes of my life, 0 success.  I refused to acknowledge the universe might have been trying to tell me something when I missed the bus by 12 seconds and had to go kill time until the next one.  I was here to see architecture and take names!

#Architecture  #ChoicesWereMade  #ByArchitects  #IJustSatInTheBus

#IAmNotAnArchitect,ConstructionWorker,OrPhysicist,SoThisMakesMeVeryNervous  #HowIsItBeingHeldUp  #ItWeighsSoMuch  #HolyScienceBatman

#RandomDogFountain  #IfTheVideoLoads

One of the things I've found fascinating since I first went to Downtown Toronto is the way they keep the shells / exteriors of the historic buildings and then either build up on top of them or gut the insides and then build something tall but keep the exterior shell of the cool building that used to be there. This is apparently because of a building code (either in Toronto, Ontario, or Canada) that says they can't trash cool old historic buildings.  The results are pretty wild.  I like it.

#PresentedWithoutComment

#YeahThat'sACastleInTheDistance  #CasaLoma  #NotReallyACastleBecauseNoRoyaltyLivedThere #FascinatingStory

The tour bus guides varied widely in skill, energy level, and investment.  The first person was the most engaged and energetic, which makes sense in that it was still early in the day.  Part of his job is to hawk tickets to the attractions we are stopping at for a discounted price.  I hopped out to go to the CN Tower and asked to purchase a ticket and learned that they could have sold me the ticket if we were further away from the tower, but since we were at the tower stop, they could no longer sell me a ticket at a discounted price.  

#ParForTheCourse  #TheDayWasCursedAndIWasGoingToLiveWithThat #TheFunWILLContinue

If you are ever in Toronto doing this double decker bus tour thing, I recommend you start at the St Lawrence Market stop, so you can get some food in you.  The Distillery District stop might also be a good one to start with (more upscale food and shops).  Union Station also has some food, if you can find where to go into the bowels of the earth under it where all the actual food is.  

I did not.  I missed the bus from the Tower due to waiting patiently at a crosswalk to cross it legally and then decided to walk to Union Station thinking there had to be food there, but there were no clear signs or directions to point me to where it was or how to get to it, so I went back to the stop to prevent missing the bus, and then it almost didn't come because it can't stop there after a certain time.  (Approximately every 27 minutes is a filthy lie. : )

St. Lawrence Market was overwhelming and delicious.  Big slab of two types of bacon on a bun?  Sure, sign me up.  Possibly tasted even better due to me being very hungry at this point.  Then Distillery District and then . . . waiting for the every-27-minute-bus for 53 minutes.  My body was so past done at this point.  I didn't even have the energy to get mad.  Or be rational.  I could have walked to the last stop (or gotten there on transit) 3 or 4 times in that number of minutes, but I had PAID for that bus ticket, and I was, by golly, going to listen to all of the interesting historical commentary if it killed me.

#DescribingMyLastNerve

When the bus finally came, the tour guide was struggling as much as I was.  She couldn't remember the script, kept stumbling over her words and dates, couldn't get a coherent sentence out, and eventually just gave up, sat down, and messed with her phone.  

#TotallyWorthWaiting53MinutesFor  #NotEvenVaguely  #ButLookAtThatSky