Tagged: love
The last Irishman in Corktown
- by Alyson Shane
is a song I heard in the bathroom of The 'Shoe Tavern
(my fav TO spot)
that caught my ear when I heard a line about RFK
(who I hate)
so I ran out and ditched out on John and Dan
watched as a charming man in a suit with an acoustic guitar
told me a story
about a figure I knew years ago
back when I lived in Corktown.
That I caught it on video
pushed back my tears for The Hammer
sat back down at our table in the corner of the bar
and shot the shit about
tattoos
Windsor bands
living in The Big Smoke
and laughing until my face hurt.
After, in the pouring rain
we peed in a back alley off Spadina
faces hurting from smiling
legs shaking from continued laughter
and hugged, kissed, looked in each others eyes
and blasted a song about a familiar
grumpy ol bastard
into the night on my phone
standing under a shared umbrella in the middle of the night.
We ate greasy food
had drinks
made stupid jokes
the sounds of the city and streetcars ringing in our ears
arm-in-arm like first-time lovers
feeling like nothing had changed since then
almost eleven years in.
The sparkle in his eyes
his big, stupid, toothy smile
making my knees weak like the very first day
and every day since.
I've come such a long way from Corktown
but found my way back to my old home
in a bar with checkerboard floors
with him.
We got married
- by Alyson Shane
It still feels weird to say. Especially out loud.
Though I do find the idea of being John's "wife" pretty satisfying, mostly because I'm obsessed with that John Mulaney bit where he yells
THAT'S MY WIFE
and secretly I kinda wish I was the one with a wife instead of a husband, because
THAT'S MY HUSBAND
just doesn't have the same oomph to it.
But that's okay, because being John's wife comes with a lot of other good stuff. Like getting to hang out all the time and know all his weird idiosyncrasies and massage his back when it gets sore and have unusual amounts of fun doing mundane things like grocery shopping or waiting for a flight.
I always hoped I'd marry my best friend, and here we are all these years later.
Married. Still best friends.
Would ya look at that.
We got married on a dock in front of the setting sun and it was beautiful and magical and silly and weird.
Beautiful and magical because of the sunset and how good John looked in his bowtie
(blue with flamingos)
and silly and weird because we're silly, weird people with a made-up language and a pretend history as Bears in Space
oh and also because Adam (aka "Reverend Grey") married us wearing a MONK COSTUME and also wrote and performed a freestyle rap about us called
"The Fresh Prince and Princess of Belize"
which is exactly what we felt like that day. 33 people took a chance on our weird stories and descended upon the tiny island of Caye Caulker, BZ and spent several days drinking in the ocean and eating way too much seafood with us.
I even killed a lobster and then ate it! It was weird to kill my own food, but when the guy killing the lobster at the very sketchy wooden table next to the restaurant we were eating at asked "who wants to try?" and John jumped up and pointed at me and said
SHE DOES
obviously I had to step up and take a life.
I've never travelled with friends or family before and it was a nice treat to walk down Front St and see Eddie and Kim sitting on their balcony, surveying the landscape and offering shots of Patrón to passers-by
or finding Alex and Rob hanging out in the hammocks along the beach (again)
or walking outside to see Jasmin and Matt hanging out in our shared yard at Wish Willy's
or waving at the Gilvesy's lined up along the bar at Paradise Restaurant having breakfast
or hearing Adrian and Carlene laughing from inside their AirBnb from the street
or a million other memories that I hope I can hold onto with as much detail as possible.
Because I know that the next time we visit Caye Caulker it won't be the same. Our little village of people won't be there, walking with a beer from the corner store or hanging out at the Sip 'n Dip or eating at Fran's for the umpteenth time. This trip, and our wedding, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
But at least I can look forward to knowing that the next time the lobster dude asks "who wants to try killing a lobster?" John will jump up and say
MY WIFE DOES.
* Photo via Les Klassen. You'd better belize that coconut had rum in it.
Sunday Zoo Date
- by admin
Sometimes, on one of the few nice days that yr city has had in a while, you have to go out on a date to Assiniboine Park and hit up the zoo.
Mostly because it's a charming & cute thing to do, but mostly because prices are going up by almost $10 next week and I like to save a dime where I can.
I hadn't been to the zoo in a few years and didn't remember there being anything this neat, so we hung around and oggled the emus and kangaroos while secretly sipping white wine.
We also have a toucan house which has an ocelot in it and if you whisper sweet nothings to it through the glass while it's cleaning itself it'll get a boner which will make families freak out because kids can't know that animals have penises, or something
and you high-five the ocelot later because that was rad.
We also have a bunch of teeny monkeys and also birds with rad hairdos, pictured below:
I also spent a good part of the afternoon kinda stalking this couple who was wandering around.
They were too cute and he kept putting her on his shoulders so she could see, or pointing out stuff that she was missing because she kept tryna hold his hand or kiss him instead and he was all
look at these animals, you lovestruck fool
(or at least I think that's what he was saying)
So it was a big surprise when the super-cute couple came up and asked to take our photo because they thought we were super cute.
Which basically means that we won at the zoo that day.
Our last stop was the Discovery Centre which did this promotion when it was being built where you could come and have yr hand/foot on a tile on the wall.
My mum says that my baby self was being really difficult that day so instead of my hands they put my feet on the tile
but I like to think that I was just trying to stand out.
After we finished oogling my cute baby footprint and also staring at spiders and toads we went for ice cream at Sargeant Sundae which is kind of a prerequisite to visiting Ass Park during the summertime.
I had a hot fudge sundae and John has an old man-style dipped cone.
Afterward we lay around on the grass and read to each other and generally grossed out everyone around us with our antics and dumb giggling
which is pretty par for the course.
Bad Valentines that Tyrone won't let me send
- by admin
I did send him this one, though:
More on my Tumblr.
Happy V-Day! xox
To Tyrone, on our anniversary
- by admin
We've been together for four years, now, which a friend pointed out recently is longer than most of the couples she knows -married or unmarried. Which is true for me as well since I don't think I know many people who've stuck it out as long as we have.
I watch people we know come together and fall apart and yet I look at you every day and feel this growing sense of love and excitement as our lives change and continue to intertwine until, really, it's not "my life" anymore, but "our life." I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to do that, to see you and feel that way and have it only increase over time.
I realize that what you and I have together is rare and unique, and something that a lot of people will never get to experience. I feel so fortunate to be able to have that, with you.
Over the past few years I've leaned so heavily on you, as a student with basically no money and no free time, and you've never been anything but encouraging, kind, considerate, and giving beyond the scope of anything I would have ever dared ask of you. You supported me when I made the incredibly difficult decision of leaving my safe job with the province to pursue my university education, and all throughout the three years I was a student.
I like to think that I would have had the tenacity to continue to pursue my goals on my own, but I know for certain that having you in my life made it significantly easier to do so.
I wasn't just working to make my life better, but to help build a better future for both of us.
I still am.
Back in the very early days of our relationship I was struggling to make a decision: go to school out of province, or stay in Winnipeg to go to school and invest in our relationship. I remember being scared that our relationship wouldn't work out and was talking to my mum about it, and she said "you can go to school anywhere, but you won't find a man like Tyrone anywhere else" and she was right.
Honestly, there are times when you'll be working on some new project, or describing something you read that day to me, and I'll look at you and think "I get to be with him. He loves me. How the fuck did I manage that?"
I'm still figuring that one out.
(My current guess is that I have a wicked rack, but who knows.)
Honestly, it doesn't matter as long as we love each other.
I can't picture my life without you. I would never want to. It would be missing something so vital, so central to my happiness, my motivation, and, really, what makes me who I am.
I have been, and continue to be, shaped by my love for you. You have made me a better person, a happier person, a more grounded and reflective person that I ever would have been able to become on my own.
If I've had even half the positive impact on you that you've had on me, then I'm doing okay.
I could continue. I could go on at length about how much fun I have with you every day, how entertaining and hilarious our conversations are, how adorable you are when you walk around the house in bright underwear and socks pulled up high, how you manage to be so intelligent one minute and so weird and off-the-wall the next, how excited I am to be building a life with you, how being around you makes me a better person, how falling asleep and waking up next to you are the best parts of my day.
Thank you for all of that. For bringing these things into my life and making it so much better.
I love you more than words could ever express, no matter how many long-winded blog posts I write trying to articulate it.
Happy anniversary.
Mushy Thanksgiving post
- by admin
Woke up today with a crick in my neck because T. was sleeping on it
with my arm wrapped around Tyrone
(mostly for warmth but also for love)
in my little apartment with the leaves turning red outside the window.
Ford was in the window but wouldn't come post for the picture so that's okay.
You know he was around
being difficult in his kitty way.
Yesterday we had brunch with Ty's family
at his sister's super cute new place
and I realized how much they've all come to mean to me
as we drove home down the highway and I looked out at all the
red and yellow fields and the big blue prairie sky.
(Also living in the prairies. I love it here)
Almost every day I'm reminded somehow of how lucky I am to have the friends that I do
(honestly, I really know the best people
who are hilarious, smart, creative, outrageous, and largely inappropriate)
but on Friday night we played Catan with two of the people I've known the longest
since I was
what
13, 14? Something like that.
Which reminded me of how much my friends mean to me
and how far some of us have come together.
Tonight I'll call up my Mum
tell 'er I love'r
talk to my dad who will undoubtedly tell me some crazy story
and keep me on the phone for way too long.
I love them despite their craziness
but it doesn't need to be Thanksgiving for that to be obvious.
Obviously.
And Tyrone
who I'm thankful for every god damn day
for more reasons than I can and should list here
like hugs, inside jokes, long drives, morning runs, his beard and moustache
always having fun even when doing the most boring, mundane stuff
but especially the eggs benedict that he just made for me.
yum.
happy Thanksgiving kids, be thankful for what ya got!
I sure as hell am.
Today is the birthday of the best blog in the world
- by admin
Once upon a time I was a stupid kid and my friend Kira who used to blog over at the now-defuct 'manicidiosyncratic' showed me this thing called 'blogging'.
It wasn't the pussy LiveJournal shit I'd done in high school which was boring paragraphs no pictures and no reason for anyone else to give a shit.
This was a bustling community of interesting people who had long-distance internet friendships and connected through the stuff they published online.
she told me about the best blog out there, the busblog and the dude who wrote it, Tony Pierce
and she said "if you read any blog read the busblog" so I did.
I still do. Every damn day.
Probably because out of all the blogs out there the busblog is the only blog that, I think, still keeps it real.
It's still kinda raw and gritty and though it's not as debauched as it used to it it's still a damn good read every time.
It inspires me to keep writing this pos every once and a while.
Recently I was told that I should start shaping my blog to be more professional and less about my life and my thoughts and that scared me a bit. This slice of the internet is who I am and I had a crisis of confidence of sorts and I said to Tyrone
"what do I do? I have a career now but I don't want to just stop being who I am online" and he said
(no word of a lie)
"what would Tony Pierce do?"
which is why I'm still writing to you in the way that I've (almost) always written to you.
So happy birthday busblog. Thanks for making blogging cool and for keeping it that way.
Biggest hearts to you, Tony. Always.
xox yr girl Shaner
On this day 48 years ago The Beatles released "Help"
- by admin
Which in addition to being a great and hugely influential album holds a special place in my heart.
As a teenager I went through a really bad breakup. Saying I was a shitshow afterward is putting it lightly and I spent a lot of time sulking in my room and fighting with basically everyone.
I don't remember why my brothers were gone on one particular Saturday but my mum decided to take me out to do errands with her.
We weren't getting along at the time and I don't even remember where we went -maybe we just went for a drive, I don't know- but that drive is one of the few times I actually remember getting along with her during that period of my life.
We came home and my dad and I hung out in the basement and we listened to "Help!" on vinyl and had a really big heart-to-heart about my feels.
I wasn't really into opening up and talking about how I felt, but sitting there having a hot chocolate and a rye n coke (my dad is cool) and listening to The Beatles helped me open up and start to deal with shit.
That night was the first night in a long time where I felt like I had the capacity to be happy and listening to that album is a huge, important part of that memory. That album means a lot to me.
It still does.
HBD "Help!"
Throwback Thursday: Winnipeg is the best place to be from
- by admin
which is something you don't hear often
not even from people from winnipeg
but it's true.
we're a big city still trying to be a small town
stuck being a small town with big-city problems
with shitty weather half the year
and a seething inferiority complex
in the middle of nowhere
(literally)
and we spend more time slamming
our sketchy mayor
our shitty transit system
and our winters
than saying good things about anything.
but our little frozen hovel
stuck out in the prairie
like a defiant 'fuck you' to common sense
breeds
amazing artists, writers, and most of all musicians
and a complex, intricate love/hate relationship
with the place we call 'home'.
this town makes you nicer
you smile and say 'hello' and make small talk in line at tim horton's
help out your neighbours or that guy
whose car got snowed in up the block
not because you want someone to reward you for doing it
but because it's the nice thing to do, dammit.
being stuck in the middle of the country
makes us much more appreciative
of what other cities have
oh you have efficient mass transit?
oh your skyline has buildings in it?
and up until a few weeks ago
oh you have an IKEA?
its size makes us all connected
everyone's had too much to drink at the king's head
gone to osborne village on canada day
seen a show at the west end
had a greasy burger at blondie's
been harassed the twoonie lady downtown
and we've all suffered from
missing a bus that came thirty seconds too early
or getting stuck outside waiting for a bus that came twenty minutes late
trying to strike a balance between two options
which are never in your favour.
living here makes you hard
we're sarcastic and cynical and critical
of everything
especially ourselves
and especially our hometown
which is why when someone else makes fun of it
they can fuck off
because that's our job
and unless you've spent your life
shovelling snow and dealing with overnight parking bans
hanging out at the toad people-watching on the weekends
driving to grand beach during the summer
and
complaining about all the things you could do if only
you were somewhere else
you haven't earned the right to bash winnipeg.
because you don't love it like we do
especially not as as much as when we say
"I fucking hate this town".
** thanks to @nicolebarry204 for reminding me that this post existed -it's still true!
