your fate is my toilet

charcuterie platter at 'the black hoof'

rating: The Belafonte Navy Ship / 10.0

PICASSO EXHIBIT - II

I walk to a bookstore called BMV. On the way there I pass Fusia Dog. It has multi-cultural hotdogs. It is closed right now because it is still morning. I look at it and think it looks good. I think it could be pretentious, but decide the food space is too small to be pretentious. The wieners are kosher and come in Korean, Japanese, and Indian ensembles. I think to myself, I want to eat one right now. I feel like breaking into the window and kidnapping Dinah Koo and holding her hostage for a ransom of five thousand 'fusia dogs.' I also feel like requesting for a 'v.i.p. status' membership at Fusia Dog so people will know I am important whenever I go there. I haven't even tried Fusia Dog yet. I feel embarrassed and keep walking. The bookstore is closed.

I feel really hot and feel like I am sweating. I think to myself that this will help me drown less inside. I stay in the sun so I keep sweating. I feel uncomfortable. I think to myself, I shouldn't have worn sandals. I am walking to Nathan Philips Square because I have nothing to do. I go to the rooftop garden and think it looks kind of pathetic. I think the neutral colours of the plants are nice though. I wonder to myself if these plants are indigenous to Toronto or something. I wonder to myself if it really matters whether these plants are indigenous to Toronto. I sit on the shady side of the garden and start reading Slaughterhouse-Five. I am only a few pages in.

I feel cold so I move into the sun, but then I feel hot, so I sit half in the sun and half in the shade. I continue reading Slaughterhouse-Five. Half of me is sweating and does not feeling like it is drowning as much anymore. Half of me is cold and lonely and sad. At 11:50 I leave the garden and walk to the bookstore, BMV. I walk around for a bit inside, and then my mom calls me and says she's ready for lunch. I meet her at an intersection, and we both walk towards Banh Mi Boys.

There is construction and dust and I feel like I am dying for a few minutes, but we reach Bahn Mi Boys eventually. It is full. I order a pork-belly banh-mi sandwich. My mom orders a grilled chicken banh-mi sandwich. We order kim-chi fries and a cold drink to share. When we get our food all the seats are taken, so we wait for someone to leave. Someone leaves and we sit down to eat. I take a photo of my food and tell myself I am not embarrassed. I feel embarrassed. Everyone sitting down leaves. All the tables are empty.

We eat and all the tables fill up while we are eating. I eat a lot and my stomach hurts because it is so full. The food is really good. We leave, and my mom wants to buy me an italian soda from Second Cup. I say no. She doesn't feel as angry this time because it is not Starbucks. She loves Starbucks. I hate Starbucks more than Second Cup. Second Cup is still a factory like Starbucks, but at least it is not a pretentious factory. 

I walk to the bookstore to buy books. I go to the 3 for $10 section. I pick up 'Music For Chameleons' by Truman Capote, 'The Wild Palms' by William Faulkner, and then I stand around for fifteen minutes trying to find the third book I want to read. I finally just pick up 'A Pale View of Hills' by Kazuo Ishiguro because I don't know what else to pick up. I also pick up 'The Plague' by Albert Camus and 'Works of Love' by Soren Kierkgaard. I buy the books and put them in my backpack and think to myself I should never buy books from anywhere else because BMV is always the cheapest place to buy books.