Just a Gwai Lo

Towel Day 2025

Several years and two weeks ago, Douglas Adams passed away. It continues to hurt, but we hoopy froods continue to celebrate his life and works.

Published by Richard on May 25th, 2025

Sunny and cool, with cloud cover to give us breaks from the unrelenting light from the sun, is my kind of weather. Being naturally warm-bodied, any time the temperature goes above 23° C, I start to shut down. Spring in Vancouver is my favourite place-season, followed closely by fall in Toronto. After moving to Canada's largest and therefore best city in 2015, I came to appreciate what a winter could be like, and the summer thunderstorms that still thrill me when they rattle my chest. Overall, though, I find Toronto weather to be rarely comfortable.

Published by Richard on September 17th, 2023

The 2023 Moby-Dick Marathon, Put On by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Part II

Day two of the reading marathon put on by the New Bedford Whaling Museum. This was a little bit less harried.

Published by Richard on January 8th, 2023

The 2023 Moby-Dick Marathon, Put On by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Part I

The New Bedford Whaling Museum puts on an annual marathon reading of Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. I attended for the first time, and made it on time with some mishaps along the way.

Published by Richard on January 8th, 2023

I Listened to a Lot of Music in 2022

A chart showing how much music I listened to since 2005. 2007 was, until 2022, the year where I listened to the most music. The graph shows that I listened to almost double that last year.

I almost doubled my previous personal best in listening to music over the course of a year.

Published by Richard on December 31st, 2022

Foggy Toronto

Streetcar wires over the intersection of Queen St. and Spadina Ave. in Toronto, Canada. The CN Tower is shrouded in fog, so it is not visible.

A fog wave rolled through Toronto recently, and it made for muted streetscapes and haunting photographs.

Published by Richard on November 21st, 2022

Towel Day 2022

A towl that says Don't Panic is draped over a laptop, beside which is a plushy whale.

I know where my towel is.

Published by Richard on May 25th, 2022

A Month of Going to Blue Jays Games

I went to most of the Blue Jays home games in April 2022.

Published by Richard on April 29th, 2022

Two Years of Sheltering In Place (More Or Less)

The front page of the Toronto Star. It reads: The March 12th, 2022 issue of the Toronto Star, with the front page showing the following: 731 DAYS five waves THE LONGEST LOCKDOWNS IN TIE WORLD 37,261 dead 3.3M CASES DON'T WEAR A MASK. WEAR A MASK. Wash your hands. Wash your groceries. five variants of concern GET JABBED TWICE. GET A BOOSTER. Dine outside. Dine inside. Drop the mask. You are here WELCOME TO YEAR THREE How we will remember the pandemic? [And it goes on.]

Two events, one in Canada, one in Eastern Europe took the spotlight off of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has entered its third year.

Published by Richard on March 13th, 2022

Three More Months of Not Sheltering In Place

A snowy street scene in Courtenay, British Columbia.

I went on a couple of trips, attended events, and otherwise spent another three months not sheltering in place.

Published by Richard on January 13th, 2022

Three Months of Not Sheltering in Place

Trees surrounding Four Mile Lake in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario.

Since July of this year, I've been to Hamilton twice, went to an Ontario cottage for the first time while living in Toronto, and have gone to a co-working space every couple of weeks or so. While I've mostly been working from home, I haven't exactly been sheltering in place like I did for the previous 16 months.

Published by Richard on October 13th, 2021