april 28 2008
That’s one of those official leather-bound books they give you when you get a company.

I called it: OOK Incorporated

- all capitals
- no punctuation
- pronounced “oooooooook” (say it aloud, it totally runs right off your tongue)
- it’s an acronym, for……

… ready?

… wait for it….

Order Of Keri 

I know, I know.

Figured I should wear a dress so I went to get one.  I really wanted the one below but instead, settled on a boring but more appropriate black one.

 april 27 2008

Another Saturday evening at this gymnastics club.  While we should be working on our skills and techniques, instead we sprint down a little runway and throw ourselves into front flips, landing in a foam pit.  

Over and over and over.  For hours.  april 26 2008

… wrong with my laptop.  It’s acting and reacting in ways I cannot even explain.  Seriously worried.april 21 2008

Something clicked today and now I just… get it.

Wasn’t always this way though:april 20 2008

- to the people getting off the streetcar when I almost drove by, sorry.  Didn’t know I too was supposed to stop when the streetcar did.

- to the guy I ignored crossing the street with his arm out in a weird way, sorry.  Now I know that’s the sign for “stop dickhead, I’m crossing here”.

- to the 6 people I almost took out on Bay Street at lunch time, sorry, that was just sheer terror.

You know how I got good?  For weeks I’ve been going out very very late at night and practicing driving all over the city.  I’ve accidently gone down a lot of streetcar-only lanes, but then I just hop over the curb so it’s okay.

april 17 2008

… into front-row Raptor’s tickets, ha!april 10 2008

I thought a fun episode would be “Exploring Canada’s NBA Team”, so I wrote to the guy in charge telling him that and asking for a ‘one-day media credential’ (that’s industry speak for “press pass” I learned).  He wrote back saying no problem, there should be room for me in the press area up in the nosebleeds.

Last night I arrived at the gate, hung the pass around my neck and after that no one looked at me twice.  

So I wandered all over the place… backstage, the staff cafeteria, peeked into the dressing room corridor and then settled into the front row and took in the game. 

Meet Julius Vesz, a world premier pipe maker for 50 years.  His shop in the Royal York is unique, gorgeous and worth a walk over.  

It’ll probably be the only place you’ll ever see pipes made from dead-root briar since he’s probably the only guy in the world who has any.

Born in Hungary, he was in the army during WW2, put in jail for saying communism sucks, competed in the Olympics (track events) and then he emigrated here age 23 and set about becoming a master craftsman.  He is completely self-taught.  

He’s made pipes for Bing Crosby, Gerald Ford, Pavarotti, and more. He thinks cigarettes are horrible little things, and would love to convert all cigarette smokers to pipes.  And did you know you don’t inhale pipe smoke?  Me neither.a

That’s sick, but what I liked best about him was his outlook on life… he’s so… relentless. He walks 4km to work everyday no matter the weather and his strongest advice to me was to reacquaint myself with nature. But oh Julius, I’m not natural with nature.

If you need a reality check, to be set straight, or some plain old motivation, go visit Julius. I mean this in the nicest way possible, like, he’s really direct and will tell you how it is, and then you’ll leave feeling like you too can conquer the world.

april 7 2008
It’s a QR Code.  Basically it’s an elaborate bar code that can hold a crazy amount of information.  

You scan it with your cel phone and then it kicks you to a webpage, offers you a coupon for the shop across the street, really whatever you dream up.  They’re huge in Japan.

I’ve been racking my brain on how to incorporate them into my show. Any ideas, let me know. 

It’s right here, in Toronto.april 4 2008

I went to film an exploration about it all, but nah.  

I mean, it’s cool that something “in the world” is Canadian but what’s to say?  The 396-foot ride lasts a nanosecond, takes you over to Porter Airlines and that’s that.