I’ve been back home for almost 2 weeks now, but well it’s taken this long to have our phone line connected. Still on dial-up at the moment, just waiting for the new modem to be delivered to so I can finally have broadband (although not at the speeds I wanted, but that’s what happens when your mum organises internet while you’re away ).

The new job is going great. Working bakery at a Coles store still, but the people are fantastic. Of course no one can take the place of all the great people I worked with at West Lakes, but these people at the new store are still great in their own way. I’m heading to Adelaide this weekend to spend time with Pred for his birthday and catch up with the family, which is going to be a blast

Last couple of days in Canada were a bit of a drag. I was still sick (I’ve only just kicked the cold to be honest), and I didn’t make it to the brewery. Ah well. I did spend part of an evening watching Black Books with one of the guys, which was cool, and had some good chats with people before I left. Hopefully I’ll keep in contact with some of those that I met, there were some pretty amazing people in the group

Anyway, just a quick update for now. <3 ya all and it’s good to be back! MQ xxx

I’ve been sick the past couple of days with a bad cold, hence no update… Just… Yeah. I’m better and off to the Steam Whistle Brewery tomorrow (Sunday) then on Tuesday I’m going back home! Can’t believe it’s almost time for me to leave Ah well, back to reality eh…

<3 MQ

Ok, this is something that has been playing on my mind the past few days. I got a myspace comment informing me that someone at West Lakes had been bitching about the fact I was over here in Canada. But it wasn’t just me, she was also in a way questioning my mothers parenting abilities. When someone says “Asa parent, I would NEVER have let my child go overseas alone!” that goes to show what a retard you can be. Especially when your child is an adult and financially dependant enough to do it themselves. Now, I know this certain person won’t read this, but I feel I need to say some of this (especially if people know who I’m talking about and stick it up their arses for me ).

My mother is NOT a bad parent for letting me go overseas on my own. I’m 19, I’ve paid for the whole thing myself and I’m fucking lucky to have a mother that won’t hold me back from achieving goals and from seeing the world. I love my mother very much, and if she had turned to me in tears and had a legitimate excuse for me not to go, I wouldn’t have come over here. However, she didn’t and she supported my decision. Sure, she had the usual worries a mother would have before her child is about to embark on such a big journey, but she is obviously not held back by the old fashioned views of some certain people who can fornicate themselves with a sharp object. My Dad was also pretty much for the idea… Even though we don’t live together anymore, he was still quite cool about the whole thing. Even my Nonna and Nonno were pretty supportive, and they have, at times, old fashioned views.
So next time someone wants to sit there and rave and rant about how idiotic my family is for letting me go overseas on my own… Just remember… I have a family who loves and supports me. I have friends over here who have been fantastic. I have made new friends here who are wonderful people. I am getting out here and LIVING my life. I left my family and cosy little corner of the world to experience something different. You can shove your green eyed jealous, self-righteous head up your arse Grace (oops did I say her real name?)… I’m doing what I want, and no one outside of my family has the right to say otherwise.

Btw, today I went to the CN Tower… Will post on that tomorrow… or later tonight, whenever I can be buggered

Wow, Ok, so I haven’t updated since Friday and it’s now Monday… Sorry to anyone who might be sitting there wondering if I’m lying in a gutter much in the same state of an iceblock I’m alive and kicking, so don’t worry! I just had a big weekend, so I didn’t have a lot of time (or could really be buggered) putting up a post until today

So the farewell party on Friday night went down well. Ended up buying a couple of bottles of Voga Pinot Grigio to share, and man, that was an amazing wine! It’s Italian, so wasn’t the cheapest ($27 a bottle), but it was so worth it! Also tried a red from the Niagra region… Got quite drunk, made a couple of new mates, and generally had a good time Live bands were on again, so it was a very fun night. Had a McDonalds run at 5am… One guy got a Double Double Quarter Pounder (A Pounder?) and I managed to eat my way through the equivalent of 2 large fries!
Saturday saw me waking up with a hangover, so I went back to sleep… But I had to go out, I’d been invited to a LAN at one of the PP forum members houses, so I went there (a couple of hours late, but I still made it!). Didn’t get around to doing much gaming apart from some Nintendo DS due to the fact some people were having some computer problems at the time, and I could only stay a couple of hours because I’d promised I’d go out clubbing that night. But I did have fun meeting the other memebers, they were all so friendly Plus I got my first ever taste of Bawls (a guarana drink favoured by gamers). Yum yum yum!

When I got back to the hostel, I got ready and went out clubbing with Richard, who works here in the hostel. He was saying to me one night that no one really wants to go to gay clubs with him, so I agreed to go along We went to Church St, walked into Woodies, but found out it was more of a pub atmosphere rather than a club. So we asked a group of guys and ended up at Buddies. By day, it’s Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, but by night it’s Buddies nightclub. Had a great night dancing, and was good to be in a club where no one was trying to grope me or chat me up

During the day Sunday I just kinda hung out in the hostel, just kind of winding down after a big weekend. That night I went to see the Sketchersons perfom Sunday Night Live. It’s a great comedy show that had been recommended to me by some of the people from the PP forums that had gone to see it before. It was pretty goddam funny… Can’t get over the guy that walked out naked with a poem written on a bit of paper he was holding between his arse cheeks *rofls* Had a couple of drinks there, then wound up back at the hostel for a couple more drinks before heading up to bed.

Today was just another chill out day, played Family Guy Monopoly with some people, sat around relaxing, had a drink and then decided to call it an early night.

This week I plan on going to see Nine, go to the CN Tower, check out the Steam Whistle Brewery, and also see the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery, plus I have to try and make it to Bolton on Saturday! And now some photos from the weekend:
Wine wine wine!

Kristian and Me:

Josh and Me:

Joe and Me:

Shaun and Me:

Doesn’t he look hot in Speedos?

The Double Double Quarter Pounder (with 4 beef patties!):

Mmmmm fries with ketchup:

The LAN crew:

Melonqueen has Bawls:

Buddies:

Family Guy Monopoly (I won!):

<3 MQ

Ok so today I walked to this TV complex thing where they do this popular music show where big stars go on… I don’t know what other shows they do there, but hey it was mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide and I thought it sounded interesting and was within walking distance, so off I went. I get there and find out that you have to group book a tour. How ghey. The guy told me I could ring up and get tickets for the music show but that night was booked (Billy Talent, a popular Canadian band are on there tonight). So I left feeling a little annoyed, but oh well.

I walked around the Queen St area, checking out the shops. There are heaps of clothing stores around, and quite a few of them specialising in punk/gothic/emo type fashion. Some of the stuff they had were pretty cool. There were also collectable stores with movie figurines and other memoriabilia. I was pretty tempted to buy some things, but I resisted the temptation! I did end up buying a cappucino and blueberry muffin while walking back to the hostel… Was nice holding something warm in my hands!

At the moment I’m just chilling, but once I’m done with this blog post, I’m going to grab some groceries, make some dinner, then get changed and start drinking. It’s the official farewell party for Josh and Shaun (yeah, it seems like we keep having drinks for them but tonight is the official one)… And hey I have no plans for tomorrow except that I’m going to show up at a LAN at a PP forum members house… Once everyone found out I was in Toronto, I got a few meet up invites Kinda why I didn’t tell everyone, because there are some people I just can’t make it to see, but hey, I figure if I make it to this LAN, I meet a whole heap in one go

Oh yeah, and today I also bought a ticket to a musical called Nine. Miranda Plant, who plays Anastasia/T4gi in Pure Pwnage is in it and let forum members know, so I figured I’d check it out That’s happening on February 8th, which is opening night.
Until tomorrow, MQ <3

Today I went on a Moose Tour to the Niagra region. I know I keep saying this about places I visit, but it was so beautilful! I’ve come to the conclusion that this whole country is gorgeous during winter (and I’m sure it’s pretty sexy during the summer too ) While driving there, you pass by Lake Ontario, which is one of the 5 Great Lakes. It’s so big that you can’t see the shoreline across the lake, it’s like looking out into the ocean. We went past the beaches… They were white beaches, but not the sand! They were covered in snow!
We started off the tour just going to a roadside stop for food… Tried a banana split donut from Tim Hortons. It was basically like a custard berliner, but the custard was banana flavoured. Was very yummy

Then we drove to the Inniskillin winery for wine tasting. We tried a white, which was very nice, a red, which was a bit spicy and bitter for my liking, then we tried the Inniskillin specialty ice wine. It was very sweet and it has a thick texture, but doesn’t really feel syrupy when you drink it. Goes down quite smoothly. We tried the white variety, and I ended up buying a bottle of the red ice wine to take back home as a gift for my uncle. Ice wine is made from grapes harvested during winter, at temperatures below -10C. The grapes are then pressed while still cold and frozen, hence the thickness of the juice extracted. It’s all rather interesting a produces a sweeter, yet quite smooth and delicious wine.

We then drove to the Laura Secord monument. Laura Secord was an American married to a Canadian. During the war of 1812, she walked 32km to warn the Canadian troops of an upcoming attack that would allow the Americans to take more ground in Canada. Because of her actions, this was averted. The memorial is close to another one that honours Isaac Brock, which is said to be one of Canada’s greatest war heros. He died during battle in the war of 1812. These memorials are in a spot that over looks the Niagra river, and it was a wonderful view looking through snow covered trees to a river that had bits of ice floating on top. There was also a whole lot more snow up there! It reached up past our ankles, and since it was better quality snow, we had heaps of fun throwing snowballs at each other for a while

The next stop on the tour was the whirlpool, which is exactly what it sounds like. Obviously because it’s winter and there’s a lot of ice floating on the river (although it doesn’t fully freeze over), the whirlpool isn’t as fast. It’s basically a right angled turn in the river, and when the waters running faster, it’s supposed to create an overwhelming effect. Once again, we had fun throwing snowballs there too, because we threw them over the edge and saw how long it would take for them to reach the ground

Finally we reached the Falls! There’s no other way to describe it other than when you walk up and look over the edge of the railing is that all you can do is whisper “Wow!”… It literally takes your breath away. There’s a huge clud of mist rising, and you look straight down and you can see the water rushing to fall over the edge… It’s just unbelievable! The only sad thing is that because it’s winter, boat rides like Maid Of The Mist that takes you right up close to the falls don’t run.  Everything was covered in snow and a thick layer of ice. I guess that’s from the mist landing on there and freezing. You look up and there’s a lampost with icicles hanging down. It’s like being in something from a storybook! The American Falls are quite close, and you can see them quite clearly while viewing the Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls, but seriously, the Canadian Falls shit all over them big time
We were given 3 hours to wander around Niagra, so I went to the Table Rock Restaurant for some early dinner… I sat right next to the window and had a wonderful (yet warm!) view of the Falls. Then I met up with the guys from the tour (who were all from Melbourne too!) and we went walking around Niagra. Brenton and I ended up in a place called Frankenstein’s Haunted Adventure, which was basically a tacky haunted house. I screamed quite a few times, and not from fright, but more from surprise… They actually had guys in there that jumped out of doors lol! I do have to admit though, Niagra does seem a bit tacky. There were bright lights and gimmicky places (eg. Ripleys Believe it Or Not, Guiness World Records, more than one wax museum, casinos etc.). It’s kind of what I imagine Las Vegas to be like. But I guess since they have so many tourists come through that they need to offer more than just the falls.

After walking around Niagra we headed back to the Falls at around 6:30. At this time, they have coloured lights come on that illuminate the Falls. It’s absolutely beautiful! The lights of the towns on both sides of the border (just across the river is the state of New York), but the bright casino-like lights don’t compare to the lights of the Falls.

And then we went back to the hostel… And I’ve been on my bed since then because I’m pooped! lol! But now it’s photo time:

View of Lake Ontario:

Wine tasting at the Inniskillin Winery:

Laura Secord Memorial:

My feet were buried!

Isaac Brock memorial:

This really makes you feel safe walking down steps :

Whirlpool:

Niagra Falls:

The American Falls (side view):

Frozen lampost:

Frozen Statue:

Yeah baby, I wanna stay here (You’ll have to be a PP forum member to get that joke!):

Frankenstein’s Haunted Adventure:

See what I mean that it seems a bit tacky?

Melonqueen by the Falls @ night:

And again (I’m a camera whore!):

It’s the fiery mists of hell! Or just Niagra Falls with red lighting

I FINALLY met up with Valgear and Kaboomerang yesterday! Was great to finally meet some forum people over here in Canada I met them at Maggie’s for an early lunch. They’re pretty cool, even if they are young ‘uns

After lunch they took me for a walk to see the Bloor St Theatre, which is where they hold the Toronto premieres for new Pure Pwnage episodes… After that we tried to work out where to go when we happened to walk past an Internet cafe, so I suggested we LAN. After discovering how crappy the PCs were in there, we finally got a game of Age of Empires III going… Needless to say, I won But that was probably because I had the bot army on my side lol. There was a guy in there watching porn. It was fucking hilarious, he was trying to hide it by holding up a newspaper, but we had a clear view of it. I took a photo of him, and he turned around… Told him I was taking a pic of Valgear Somehow we managed to stay at the cafe for like 4 hours, so by the time we finished up, I ended up going back to the hostel. I was meant to see them today, but I wasn’t feeling so good, so I’m going to bus it up to Bolton on the 10th to visit their hometown

For dinner last night I went out with a mate I’ve made here called Brenton. We walked down the street to Wayne Gretzky’s, which is owned by the famous hockey player. The food was excellent, but so filling! Brenton’s burger came with a ‘99′ branded on the bun (99 was Gretzky’s number). There was heaps of memorabillia in there too, it was pretty cool

Then later that night… Oh my lordy… What a night! It was Shaun’s (an Aussie) last shift working here as a bartender in the hostel (him and Josh return to Australia next week)… So it was a big night of drinking, many people were pissed, myself included. Met an awesome girl from WA named Jo who stayed in my room last night… Got her details, hopefully we’ll keep in contact By the end of the night, everyone was dancing, including certain people dancing on top of the bar (not me!). Didn’t get to sleep til almost 5am… Woke up with a hangover and also discovered it was that time of the month, so I felt like shit… Much better now, hung out with Brenton again downstairs in the common area tonight. Going to Niagra Falls tomorrow, can’t wait!! Should have some awesome pics to post of that

Maggi’s (originally Maggie’s) as featured in Pure Pwnage:

Bloor St Theatre:

Porn guy:

Awesome print in Wayne Gretzky’s of the man himself:

The ‘99′ branded bun:

Wayne Gretzky’s from the outside. The hockey guy on top rotates!:

Fun in the GVB bar