Be Here Now

So I’m moving! It’s been quite the adventure looking at rentals, with my trusty and adventurous real estate agent. Looking for a rental in the dead of winter is definitely challenging – there were a few times when the lockbox containing the key was totally frozen; my agent had to pour her precious hot coffee on it (and it was caramel and smelled so good!) to melt the ice just so that she could enter the code. And of course the lockbox would promptly refreeze, making it impossible to put the key back in!

The current rental landscape for renters in Toronto is tough… there is no rent control for newer buildings!

Any rental unit built after Nov. 15, 2018, is not subject to provincial rent control. That doesn’t just mean a new apartment building, it also includes additions to existing buildings or an unfinished area like a basement or attic that’s been converted into an apartment.

CBC

In my current building, they are raising people’s rents sometimes by up to $1000/month for a 1-bedroom unit. It should be against the law but it isn’t. Instead, it’s actually the law. This forces good tenants to move out and compete for places that are often smaller and further from the city.

Luckily amidst all of this, I found a nice unit in a building that was constructed in 2017, and the owner is super nice. Stress is over, and I’m moving at the end of next month! (Ok I guess it’s the start of a different kind of stress).

I’ll be moving to the Junction, one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the city. It’s full of shops, cafes, restaurants, and yoga studios, and a walk to High Park. Can’t wait for bike rides in the summer. It will be sad to leave my friends in Liberty Village, skating at the Bentway, lounging at Stackt market in the summer, walks by the lake, and my lovely friends at the Liberty House. But change is in the air, and I’m looking forward to it!

For the past week, I’ve been a little out of commission because of a gum graft surgery. This is the second one I’ve had in the last year – the first time was my right side, and this time my left side. It turned out to be a good decision to split it up this way, so I could still eat! (not to mention lighter on my wallet). Not sure how people get both sides at the same time – ouch!

I finished listening to Comedy Sex God by Pete Holmes, which I realized halfway through, had inferred commas between the words in the title, kind of like Eat, Pray, Love. It didn’t mean that he was the God of Sex & Comedy. Although he probably could’ve argued for that based on some of the detailed descriptions of threesomes!

His spiritual quest is so interesting, how he slowly dis-identifies with his rigid Catholic upbringing that instilled in him that everyone that didn’t hold the same beliefs were condemned to Hell, and finds a path that focuses on consciousness and awareness as being all-encompassing, with our thoughts and beliefs being mere specks in an abundance of love. He meets his Guru, Baba Ram Dass (a white guy who gave himself that name once he uncovered his own path). Ram Dass wrote the book Be Here Now, which I happen to have – a guy I met at a wedding in New York had a crush on me, and based on our conversation, he mailed the book to me in Toronto when I returned. That’s happened again since then (different guy, different book). It’s a bit esoteric, but now I’m sifting through it in a new light. Reading the book makes you a little woozy (in a good way).

One thing that resonated with me was how Pete shifted his thoughts, especially the negative ones. Instead of thinking “I am depressed”, he changed it to “There is depression”. The feeling didn’t consume his whole state of being; but just a small part of it. And because of that he was able to move through it more easily. Personally I find that I get ‘hooked’ on negative thoughts. My therapist is teaching me ways on how to ‘unhook’.

I’m currently reading the memoir Between Two Kingdoms for my work book club – so far it’s riveting, starting off with the author’s romance with a sweet guy named Will, moving to Paris, and then being completely caught off guard when her health starts to mysteriously deteriorate.

I’m looking forward to participating in a comedy show for Sahiyo on March 7. Sahiyo is an organization that is working to eradicate female genital cutting around the world. Last year I attended their inaugural women’s day event and fundraiser online – the comedians were all female, and all hilarious! This year I’ll be taking part alongside some pretty cool comedians! I’ll send out the link once it’s available.

I found it hard to write this bio (a little obnoxious to put so many titles beside your name, no?) but then again, everyone else is doing it!