Life On The 401

I’d spent my adult life thus far doing my best to avoid driving on the highway. If I had to go somewhere that was beyond my city limits, I was either getting a ride from a parent/friend/boyfriend/coworker or I was taking public transit. I did not want to drive. I did not like to drive. And I barely had the means to drive anyway as my brother and I share an old car, and he was already taking it to work.

But recently I got a new job, and I knew I’d be a fool if I passed it up just because it involved a drive on the good old 401. I needed to break out of my shell (and hometown) and learn to face my fears.

Me getting into the car.

And I did!

Nearly every morning, I am one of thousands of people who get in their cars and embark on a journey on Ontario’s biggest highway. I’m driving faster than I’ve ever driven before. And also slower. Because traffic is awful!

Rush hour is rush hour. People have places to be, and I get it. I just wish Ontario had better infrastructure. We’re constantly promised expansions and new roads and transit lines and all these things that either never come to fruition or take years (if not decades to complete). So this is life. In good traffic, the drive should take me 25 minutes, but I’m lucky to do it in 45 on any given morning or afternoon. Sometimes it takes closer to an hour. And that’s all a step up from the nearly two hours it’d take on public transit.

But I’m working on getting those numbers down. I think I’ve figured out the sweet spot of when to get out of express and into collectors so I can eventually get off the highway and not get caught in the slowdown. And if I get onto the highway the next city over instead, I can bypass a weird slog there too. It’s these little tricks that I’m mad I have to think about, but I guess are all a part of the 401 commute life.

And you know what else, as I learned, is part of the 401 commute life? Lies. I am lied to constantly on that highway. Every so often, there’ll be these big electronic signs listing out some upcoming exits and how long it will take to get there. Those numbers are egregiously false. 16 minutes is really like 40. 7 minutes is more like 15. I am bamboozled by how wrong those signs are every day during regular rush hour traffic. And one time, I saw a sign saying that express was moving well while collectors was slow, so I made the choice to stay in express as long as I could, and that ended up also being a mistake as I found express to be even slower than usual.

I always assumed people’s road rage was directed at other drivers, but I think I’m developing it solely towards the highway itself. So far, I haven’t seen any idiot drivers doing reckless things. I just see unnecessary slowdowns and a road system that seems kind of broken for the volume it sees every day. I can only imagine what the 401 was like before the pandemic when everyone was in-office five days a week.

But whatever. My commute isn’t that bad, and I’m very proud of myself for pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I still don’t like to drive, but as long as I’m safe and get where I need to be in a somewhat reasonable time frame, it is what it is.

In related news, I’m thinking about listening to audiobooks on my drive. Goodness knows I have the time, and it may be a more realistic way for me to get back into books. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Good idea for an audiobook noob or ineffective way of consumption when focused on the road?

That’s all for now.

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Monthly Look Ahead: April 2024

Welcome to April! Usually, this month is the real start of spring, which I do like, but last year, we had a wild heatwave in early April that messed up curling playoffs for us. So fingers crossed that we can get through that this year without trouble and then crack out the jorts.

• As mentioned, curling ends in April, and to close out the season, the Mixed League that I’m in always throws a party. I’m wary of big curling events now because they always seem to lead to some illness being passed around, but I’m thinking I’ll make an appearance and celebrate the end of the season for a bit.
• My friends and I got tickets to Canada’s Wonderland, which is a huge amusement park north of Toronto. I haven’t been there in over a decade, so I’m excited to go back. Hopefully the weather cooperates that day too.
  
• My boyfriend and I are hoping to go to an art exhibit about light this month. We went last year and really enjoyed it, so we have to find time this month when the weather is nice at night (as that is the best time to see light-up art). Does anyone have recommendations on how to spend an afternoon in Toronto beforehand?
• My new job (which is going great so far) has an AGM coming up, and I will be in attendance. It should be a good way for me to learn more and meet more people.
• Billy Joel’s 100th show at Madison Square Garden was filmed and will be televised on the 14th. I’m a big fan of his music and would love to see him in concert, but this may be as close as I can get, so I will be tuning in for sure.
  
• Taylor Swift’s next album comes out this month. I’m only a casual fan, but I’m sure it’ll be decent, as her last handful of albums have been.

Hopefully everyone’s April is sunny and warm and no one is bamboozled by any April Fools Jokes. I’d love to hear what plans you have, though.

That’s all for now!

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The Great Shower Debate(s)

It snowed on Friday night and I had to clear off the car before I drove home from curling. Needless to say, it was cold. And I didn’t have proper gloves or a coat or anything. I guess I could have put on my curling gloves, but digging those out of my bag would have taken longer than if I just powered through and cleared off the snow as fast as I could. Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is that upon getting home, I immediately took a hot shower. After being in the cold all evening and after a long week, it was especially nice. And then I put on clean and thick pajamas and got into a clean bed. To me, that is the ideal order of operations.

I have always been a night showerer. (Grammarly doesn’t like that word and tried to autocorrect it eight times). When you’re a child, ‘bathtime’ is always after dinner and before bed, and I just had no reason to change that as I grew up. And why would I, when going to bed clean and fresh is so nice?

As is sleeping in. The thought of getting up earlier than I need to in order to shower is so unappealing. And then I gotta pull on fitted clothes when I’m still slightly damp and feel so abnormal, which also just seems wrong to me. I don’t care what I’ve got going on that day, I will shower the night before always.

But there are people who prefer to shower in the morning. They can’t function until they’ve started their day with a shower. I just simply do not relate to that desire at all.

Especially because I’ve got long hair. Long hair takes forever to dry. I prefer to towel dry and air dry it, and ideally try to allow myself about half an hour to do this as I lie in bed and scroll on my phone. Since it’s not usually dry by the time I’m ready to sleep, I simply tie it up in a bun and pass out. By morning it’s usually fine and needs no styling. Whereas if I were a morning showerer, I’d have to set aside even more time to ensure it’s blowdried and styled.

The concept of a routine is so interesting because it’s supposed to be so repetitive and familiar, but we all have our own. What’s normal and routine for me is heinous for someone else, and vice versa, but we all have the same end goal in regards to this topic: to meet society’s standards of cleanliness and feel physically ready for our day.

I also think showers are fairly divisive in a funny way. Like morning vs night showers are only a fraction of the debate that really gets people riled. Then comes hot vs cold. Actively washing your legs vs letting gravity do its thang. 2-in-1 vs separate products. I recently found out that a lot of people don’t use a washcloth, they just use their soapy hands? And wait, there’s more: peeing in the shower vs being a civilized human. Yeah, there’s a lot going on.

Showers: we all take ’em. But not the same way.

Anyway, if you couldn’t tell, this post was absolutely the result of Shower Thoughts. I come up with some of my best content while being blasted by near-scalding water. And I’m not sorry.

That’s all for now!

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Everybody Milk? Really?

I saw a TV commercial the other day from the Dairy Farmers Of Ontario. It featured a bunch of people proudly drinking large glasses of milk in places like in an office or on a park bench or on a construction site. They also throw in that some people eat milk in cheese or ice cream, but really the focus was on those glasses of white milk. The tagline for the commercial was “Everybody milk!”

But I don’t think that’s true.

Normally, when a company promotes a product in a commercial, they’re trying to entice you to buy it. Think of any fast food commercials showing off their juicy burgers and crispy fries. They want you to order it. Or, at the very least, they want you to associate their brand with the idea of yummy food. The thing about milk, though, is that I don’t think anyone sees a commercial like this and runs to the store to get some. I don’t think anyone has a craving for it. And I don’t think anyone thinks fondly about Dairy Farmers Of Ontario as a brand, even if they’re doing good work making local dairy products for us.

Milk, like pineapple on pizza, has become a bit of a divisive beverage. While some people like it, adults drinking it is seen as odd and even ‘cringe’, probably because it’s so closely tied to babies and growing children. Obviously, milk is a healthy drink for all ages and it should not be ridiculed, but I agree that if you were on a date and the person ordered a glass of milk at a restaurant, you’d be a little weirded out.

Most adults are pretty set in their ways when it comes to milk consumption, which is why commercials and messaging like this just seem so weird to me because it’s so unrealistic. I never see people drink milk, and especially not out and about.

And I say this as someone who did in fact drink milk well into adulthood. Drinking milk was normal in my house. I was drinking whole milk at nearly every meal I had at home, even when I went to university. As a picky eater, I don’t get a lot of protein, and milk was a decent and normal way for me to get some. Truthfully, the only reason I stopped was because I was trying to get a handle on my acne, and while I wasn’t prepared to fully cut out dairy, I could greatly reduce it by drinking water instead of milk at meals. It’s now been years since I’ve drank a glass of milk.

That being said, the marketing campaigns from the milk industry are interesting. “Got milk?” and all the ads with the white milk mustaches are iconic. So I respect their hustle there, but I just kind of wonder how successful the ads really are in terms of increasing sales, or is it all just a brand recognition or public awareness campaign? Do they want people talking about milk the way I am now, even if I have no desire to go drink a glass of milk?

Dairy is important in our diets, and that’s certainly a good message to promote for all ages, but I feel like marketing anything other than a glass of milk would be way more effective.

But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe everybody does in fact milk. Complete this poll and tell me.

That’s all for now!

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Big Bus Blues: How Not To Spend A Day In LA

My parents and boyfriend and I recently took a trip from San Francisco down to LA, stopping in a new city every day. Because of this schedule, we only had a day and a half to spend in Los Angeles. Which is not a lot for such a city. But nevertheless, we were determined to make it work and end our trip on a high note.

But things did not go according to plan. So this is my gentle warning for anyone trying to plan their day in LA and stumbling upon this post in their research.

In true tourist fashion, we wanted to see so much. The walk of fame. The beach. The Grove. Rodeo Drive. The Hollywood sign. Film studios. But LA traffic is notoriously awful, and even if we magically had a good traffic day, you know parking rates at any location are probably insane (and that’s not even factoring in the Canadian conversion!). So instead of doing it ourselves, we decided to do a bus tour on our full day. That way we could sit back and enjoy the trip…or so we thought.

The truth is we did do a lot of sitting back…and waiting…for buses that did not come on time. There are two big hop-on-hop-off bus tour companies in LA with nearly identical pricing, so we went based on reviews. Big Bus Tours somehow had a better rating and had stops at many places we wanted to go. But we learned the hard way that it doesn’t matter how many cool stops there are when you really only have time for one or two.

The tour started at 10am (it was more like 10:10, but okay), and we wanted to go right to Santa Monica Pier (by making a transfer from the red loop to the blue). By the time we got there, it was almost 1pm. I wanted to make at least one other stop on the tour just to get our money’s worth a bit more, but by the time we made it back to the transfer spot later in the afternoon, my father was looking up how much it would cost for us to ditch the bus and Uber back to our hotel. We ended up sticking it out and just finishing out the red loop without getting off until the end. It was about 5pm when we finally ended our Big Bus Tour. And all we did was that one stop.

Luckily we did have just enough time in the evening to hop in our rental car and drive up to Griffith Park to see the Hollywood sign, the sunset over the city, and walk around the observatory, so the day wasn’t a total fail.

Maybe that random Tuesday was just a particularly bad day for traffic. Maybe we were foolish for trying to do both the red and blue loops. Maybe we should have looked into smaller, more private (and expensive) tours instead of hop-on-hop-off.

The slight positive about what we did was that there was an audio system on the bus that gave us decent info and facts about things we were driving by and stops we didn’t have time to make, so while we didn’t do too much, we did learn a decent bit and see things from a distance. However, I feel like they should have more material ready because there were some long stretches on that blue loop where they just had elevator music playing because traffic was so slow that they couldn’t maintain their spiel relative to where we were.

I also think Big Bus Tours needs to reevaluate how they run as a company. Leaving late meant we missed our connecting bus at the transfer point. The pathetic app showed rogue busses and busses not spaced out nicely, which meant we had to do way too much waiting. We had one bus show up to drop people off at the transfer point, and when we tried to get on it, the driver stopped us and said he was going on break. It was just after 11am. The tour only started an hour ago, how do you need a break already? If these are the problems Big Bus Tours has in the off-season, I’m scared to know what the tour is like during peak summer travel. More communication between busses (and to customers), more efficient routes, and more busses would help improve things greatly.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with our day and a half in LA. As a Canadian, Los Angeles always seemed like the dream city. Like Toronto, but bigger and fancier and warmer. But seeing so little of it from a windy tour bus was a letdown and a waste of money. I’ll definitely be thinking twice before paying for another Big Bus Tour, especially in a big, bustling city like LA.

At least it was a sunny day and the rest of our trip had gone well (go see pics on my Insta!), so in the grand scheme of things, it was a blip. Like I said, this is just my experience, and if it helps anyone planning their trip to LA or amused you for four minutes, then I’ve done my job.

That’s all for now!

 

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