Yesterday I woke up at an extremely ungodly hour to take a really long walk down to the lakeshore, to take a ferry to Toronto Islands.

Wow, it was really, really nice. The snow and the cold has kept everyone away, so the place was pretty much deserted for most of the day. I stayed there for around 10 hours, and when I left at 4pm or so, I saw a few photographers coming in... and I was like aww too bad you missed it, because the clouds were coming in and the sun had gone.

Along the way I discovered that Lake Ontario's surface does actually freeze, and the pack ice is really cool, especially when it's covered with snow, because the contrast against the dark water is just awesome. The ferry actually forced its way through the ice, breaking it as it went through, leaving ice shards everywhere. Apparently it refreezes at night, and the next morning they have to break the ice again.

Let's just say I'll most certainly be going back, perhaps when the temperature really drops on Thursday, because other than the pack ice, there will be really nice icicles on the islands. The high for Thursday is expected to be below -20 degrees, and well, we won't go into the low.

Toronto's experiencing the first major snowstorm of the season, and I think they underestimated it... I swear there's more than 30cm of snow out there. Because just now when I trekked (yes, trekked, because it took a lot of physical effort to get there) to McDonalds to satisfy my hunger, I was stepping in way-more-than-knee-deep snow.

And well. It'll be awesome tomorrow when it stops snowing.... but meanwhile this sucks because it's caused the flights to and from Toronto to be cancelled, due to the complete lack of visibility and also the fact that they are unable to keep the snow off the runway long enough for a plane to take off or land. And this sucks even more because now my dad and bro are stranded in Detroit airport because they were on the way to Toronto to visit me, and all the flights got cancelled.

The interesting thing is the news reports all say that this pales in comparison to last year, so they're kind of happy actually.

And now here's a photo of a cute dog (think: Hamley) to remind myself that snow is actually kind of fun... when it's not being annoying in the form of a snowstorm.

I realise that my definition of 'warm' has sunk to new lows. Now I consider anything on the positive side of zero degrees to be 'warm'. And I think that 5 degrees above zero is 'hot', because I can't bear to wear my big coat out when it's that temperature.

Today it snowed again, and for some reason it was incredibly cold, with the windchill putting the temperature at 21 degrees below zero. I have no idea what the hell is wrong with the weather, because it's not supposed to be this cold at this time of the year. The 20 degree and 30 degree below zero temperatures are reserved for January and February.

Wish me luck when I get back to Singapore...

Noooo where's the snow. The temperature is definitely low enough but no snow. Only freezing rain.



Anyway, I watched James Bond the Quantam of Solace the day after it opened in Toronto. And Daniel Craig was here to promote it, but I didn't get to see him because I was too busy studying >.<

And movie tickets here are waaaay ex. Singapore's about 3 times cheaper.

Won't spoil the movie for those who want to watch it but haven't. So just go watch and be happy.

There was a Santa Claus Parade outside my window on Sunday, which woke me up from my beauty sleep. The thing about living downtown is that everything happens right outside your window. On Remembrance Day a while back, they almost fired the canons into my window, or at least I think it felt that way. Apparently the Santa Claus Parade has been held annually since 1905 (!). It was snowing during the parade, but it was wet slushy snow, only good for getting people soaked and cold and not much else. It was really heavy though. And the rest of Ontario has been having snowstorms, but Toronto got left out.

After the snow stopped, I slipped outside to see the parade and shoot some pictures of it, and it took me about 30 seconds to get from my room to the edge of the parade. That felt good. And I think it's an ang moh kid thing - but ang moh kids are just inherently cute, and the proportion cute kids is higher.



This boy was on the Sound of Music float, and from the way he carried himself and how comfortable he was with it, I have a nagging suspicion that he is actually a cast member of the musical that's now in Toronto. But I can't confirm that, because there are simply no pictures online.

And yes, that's snow on his hat.

Back to my quest for the perfect GPA. It's exam period, sucks.

I finally gave in to homesickness today. I really want to go back to Singapore, now. Yes Canada's been good to me. There's no reason to dislike it, actually. But I still want Singapore. I knew this would happen sooner or later, but I've been trying to avoid it. Seems that I can't anymore.

I want so bad to hug my mother. I want my bed in my room. I want to see all those people I know back in Singapore. I want to talk to my brother on MSN when he's two metres away from me, not fifteen thousand kilometres away. I want to stick my head out of my study window and see another lousy Singaporean sunset, even though I know they will never compare to the ones here. I even want to feel the hot sticky afternoon, because that means I'm back.


Fly Away

"When will you be home?" she asks
As we watch the planes take off
We both know we have no clear answer to where my dreams may lead
She's watched me as I crawled and stumbled
As a child, she was my world
And now to let me go, I know she bleeds
And yet she says to me

You can fly so high
Keep your gaze upon the sky
I'll be praying every step along the way
Even though it breaks my heart to know we'll be so far apart
I love you too much to make you stay
Baby fly away

-"Fly Away" by Corrinne May

I'm pretty sure my mum cried when she left me in Toronto. I did too, but she didn't see. I think I understand. And the song lyrics put into words exactly what happened, probably way better than I can while I'm in this rather messed up state.