28 April 2005

Still in Toronto

Jet lag + all-day meetings = yawn-a-rama! But now the meetings are over. I'm finally over my jetlag, too—just in time to fly home tomorrow! Some things I've done in the last few days:

• "Feathered Dinosaurs and The Origin of Flight" at the Royal Ontario Museum

  I learned many fun facts about birds and dinosaurs, including two theories about how birds developed the ability to fly:

  • from the ground up

    Birds ran on two legs, using their lightly-feathered forelimbs to achieve a little lift in order to run faster with longer strides. Eventually they glided for short distances, then flew.

  • from the trees down

    Birds used their claws to climb trees, then glided from branch to branch, and finally began to fly.

• The Tunguska Project

  In this documentary, a Cree Indian travels to Siberia to visit the Evenki people and the site of the Tunguska event. I thought the fellow himself was a bit of a self-indulgent drama queen and thus not too interesting. But I enjoyed the film for the info about the Tunguska event and the Evenkis.

  There's a fascinating scene showing how they slaughter a reindeer: they calm it, persuade it to lie down, and one kid sits on the reindeer's hips while another one gently turns its nose toward the ground and holds its antlers. Then another kid carefully positions a screwdriver at the base of its skull and smoothly inserts it. The reindeer dies within a few quiet seconds, and the whole camp goes to work disassembling it and putting all its parts to use.

  I wonder if a reindeer burger would be tasty. I enjoy many burger species, you know.

• the CN Tower at night

  The glass elevator rises 1,465 feet in 58 seconds. This is one of those landmarks that cities build for prickwaving value: Our tower is bigger and pointier than yours! I jumped up and down on the glass floor and gazed at the city lights.

• aquatic massage

  Cindy practices this massage therapy technique and generously invited me to try it. After a shower, I donned a bathing suit and joined her in a warm pool. She attached flotation cuffs to my thighs and supported my head with her arms, shoulders, and later a pool noodle.

  I was gently swirled, swished, massaged, and stretched while an underwater speaker played tranquil music. The womblike feeling soothed me nearly to sleep, and I wished the massage would never end. But eventually, Cindy expertly tipped me upright and deposited me on a submerged seat, where I opened my eyes feeling supremely serene. Thank you, Cindy!

Tomorrow I'll check out of Hotel Fancy Ass and knock one last thing off my to-do list: fabric shopping on Queen West. Not many fabrics are mass-produced for home sewing, so one always finds something different in another city. In particular, I'll be sure to hit Peach Berzerk, where they silk-screen their own fabrics on-site.

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