The Kids Are Alright

Walking north on Church yesterday, I passed a group of girls taking their time, chirping amongst themselves with the sort of careful, easy conversation that comes with meeting someone new. I knew instinctively they were heading towards Ryerson residence, just like I would have been doing nine years ago this weekend.

I remember being like them; freshly moved out of the safety of your bedroom and realizing that you've entered the first stage of being a grown up. Strolling around the city with other frosh, chatting with anybody who happened to be in your perimeter but staying close to the girl you kind of made friends with yesterday. Feeling like a self-sustained human being, laughing at the trivialities of high school. Drinking cheap coolers and staying up late. Everybody's new and you wonder if the quiet girl across the hall will be your best friend in 2 years?

I remember the first week of residence, how we traipsed around Toronto for different activities. A scavenger hunt, a parade, a picnic, a live concert. I have brief snapshots in my mind of these locations but have no idea where most of them took place. Back then, they seemed foreign; street car rides and subways away, these places that are probably so familiar to me now. It's weird to remember this city as being a mystery to me, unchartered territory that I've since conquered.

Behind me, I watched the group of girls turn off at the residence like I knew they would. I looked up to see the fresh floor decorations in the windows, had a brief memory flash of sitting in the cafeteria. These kids are so young. We were so young.

Looking through some Ryerson photos on Facebook - how youthful everybody looked! I examined myself in the mirror this morning and wondered how different am I, really? Has my skin lost elasticity? Am I a leathery old wench? What makes me look 27 and not 23? Is it the weathered grizzle of experience? I bought two face masks and some seaweed facial cleanser from Lush on Friday - prevention is the new denial. But I digress. What was I talking about again? I'm gonna go drink some strawberry beer and pretend I'm 19 again.

(To follow: why I honestly like being 27 and not 19.)

Elusive, Irresponsible Blogger

Last Thursday I was knee-deep in Olympics on Hannah's couch, winning a silver medal for indigestion with the hot wings sitting in my stomach. Out of the blue, Hannah turns her head and looks at me. She pauses before she speaks, which makes the following statement extra dramatic:

"What if we drove to New York this weekend?"

The idea didn't even have a moment to resonate; the decision had already been made. Besides, what else would we have done on a Saturday - sit on her couch and watch HGTV for 5 hours? Probably. We could spend that valuable ass time in a car speeding towards our favourite city.

Friday, 4pm , Hannah calls an emergency meeting to inform me that Zacky would be joining in on the adventure. Apparently telling your brother about a big adventure and then asking them to feed your cats while you're gone doesn't always go over well... but why not bring someone to share in the fun, right? Especially someone as starry-eyed as Z.

Friday night, 8pm, the three of us are tucking into some din dins and planning a to-do list. The idea was to pick up our rental car at 8am and be in NYC by 5. "You know, if we were smart, we would have left after work," Hannah mused. 5 minutes later she's on the phone with Hertz - they have one car available and they're closing in 20 minutes. We throw down our forks and sprint up Yonge street, just in time to pick up the most pimp SUV I've ever driven (which, of course, isn't saying a lot).

On the road by 10, checking into a hotel at 2:30am. Rolling into NYC by 3pm on Saturday, buying $5 sunglasses in SoHo by 4 and riding up an elevator with Jeremy Sisto to a penthouse party at midnight. Sleeping at 4am, back in the SUV driving out of NYC by 11am. Dropping off the rental at 9pm, back on the couch eating wings at 9:30 ... the most delicious, exciting, tiring and spontaneous full circle I've rode in awhile. These are the things I will remember and long for one day, you know?