Twisted Thoughts And Thoughtful Truths On Thursday #023
Twisted Thoughts And Thoughtful Truths On Thursday #023 – “Post-Vacation Wrap-Up”
Ahhhh…to be back in this chair and in front of the speakers & screens where I belong.
You all good at vacationing? I’ve always found it to be more difficult than it should be. In fact, for a very long time I was one of those dudes that couldn’t take one without having some kind of savage mental breakdown for the tiniest of reasons, whatever they might have been. I’m sure it was just the effect of being overwhelmed by the amount of freedom and fun to be had, likely coupled with the realization that we COULD have easily made LIFE ON EARTH this way instead of…well, whatever the heck you’d call the system now I guess. Maybe I just had a harder time adjusting from work-mode, because I’m usually loving what I do on a daily basis & always looking forward to hearing that next record you come up with.
Having said that, I’m really starting to master the art of unplugging & taking time off…a guy could really get used to it I tell ya. My vacation last year down south to see my aunt get married was incredible. The vacation to Vegas the year before that was equally cool. No major meltdowns on any of those to report. And this last one that the wife and I recently took to Toronto? Amazingly smooth! I might go as far as to say I have the potential to vacation anywhere now after having such a successful trip this summer.
Dubbed “Beccapalooza,” I organized this trip from start to finish for my wife Becky’s birthday. We landed, got to our hotel, promptly passed out from jetlag, and then went to WORK the very next morning. Not like, work-work…I’m talkin’ about us hitting the pavement with a serious agenda to go conquer Toronto, and damn did we do it! We hit up an art exhibit called Arcadia Earth the first day, which was like, an environmentally-conscious, interactive installation…and it was good! I’ll admit I was hoping for something a lot closer to the Arte Museum in Las Vegas, but Arcadia Earth was still solid to see, and it gave the vacation a whole lotta room to keep growing in the direction of awesomeness. We hit up The Strokes at the RBC Amphitheatre later that night, and that band was freakin’ ten outta ten to watch play live. It’ll be super cool to see them here in Vancouver in August later this summer and see how the show has grown, or what the differences might be in how the band is received on one side of the coast to the other. The next day was CN Tower, which was crazy high up…way higher than I’m generally comfortable with being. Young The Giant at night with Cold War Kids opening at a place called History…another awesome show. We hit up a place called Tilt Arcade on day three and saw an act known as Flawed Mangoes that night, which might very well have been the best possible bang for the ol’ buck…the show was inexpensive by comparison to most, and the band was absolutely electrifying. We checked out the Royal Ontario Museum the next morning, then went on a harbour cruise in the afternoon. We were supposed to see Wolfmother that night, but they cancelled the show with less than twenty-four hours’ notice…so that sucked, but what can you do when the man don’t wanna let you into the country for whatever reason? We were finding an incredible home at Amsterdam Brewing that we’d go to whenever we had free time…that’s the home of my favorite beer of all-time, Boneshaker. We saw the legendary Paul Simon the next day back at the RBC Amphitheatre outside again, and the following day we went to see the new Jackass movie in theatre, and comedian Daniel Tosh at night. We went to a WNBA game the day after to see the new Toronto Tempo team play…they lost, but they were amazing, so whatever – it was a great game, and the atmosphere itself was so freakin’ awesome to be a part of. We went on an even more involved and intimate cruise around the harbour at night, with the whole three-course meal and all that. It’s where I met a guy named Justin, who was definitely drunk as drunk can be. He stood on the top deck of the ship staring at my tattoos until I finally called him over to us to say what was on his mind. Young kid, brave kid, DRUNK kid…but he was a good guy. He asked me “what was I grateful for today?” and I thought that was really cool. Obviously the answer is my wife – it always is – but it was still a great question to be asked by a random stranger and I might just take that page out of Justin’s playbook. Later on that night, he did a wild interpretive dance on his own to the music playing, which pretty much had the whole boat chuckling. Lastly, we booked it to this crazy place called Gift Shop that is the COOLEST bar I’ve ever been to, with the very best drinks that I think I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I’ll get Becky to tell you more about this place and a bunch of other details on the next episode of This Is Our Life Now, The Podcast…but like…damn…what a cool experience that was! Becky added Gift Shop to the itinerary and I’m so glad she did, I’ve never been any place like it.
As for the parts of the trip that I organized, she had no idea what she was going to be doing on any given day. She’d wake up, we’d get ready to go out, and it was on. We’d take the train downtown and go do whatever it was that we were going to do first, and she’d find out what the day was going to be like. What a champ eh? Who even does that? That woman is fearless! Almost fearless. We went to the Art Gallery of Ontario the next day, and then I took her to the theatrical adaptation of Paranormal Activity in the afternoon, where she had the shit scared out of her. After that we booked it to the Museum of Illusions, which wasn’t terrible? It was alright, but it felt like you could walk through the whole thing in less than fifteen minutes, so I’m also not convinced it’s an attraction I could recommend anyone going to. The next day was Canada’s Wonderland, an extension of the Six Flags madness we know and love. I saw one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen there…the kind of thing you have to see for yourself to believe…but there’s this water ride there that is capable of soaking the people watching the ride every bit as much as the people that are taking the ride…and it’s really something to experience. Our next day was spent going to Ripley’s Aquarium, which might have been a better time if it wasn’t packed from wall to wall with people, but I still got to find and see the axolotls there, so it was 100% worth it. At night, we got to see the one and only St. Vincent perform with an orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall, and I feel like I can speak on behalf of both Becky & myself when I say that we can now consider LIFE ITSELF to be complete. She will definitely have more to say on this on the next podcast episode, I assure you. For now, I’ll simply sum it up by saying it was every bit as amazing & unforgettable as you can imagine it would be, times ten. We rented a car on Canada Day and drove to our old street in Ottawa from when we lived there between 2016-2022 and went to dinner with a bunch of our old friends, then the next day we headed over to hang out with Becky’s boss from work and meet her way-too-freakin’-cute dog before making the drive back to Toronto to finish the trip. The final day might have been one of the best really. We were supposed to go to a place called Storm Crow Manor, and then see Tortoise play that night at The Concert Hall, and instead, we bailed on all of our last day plans. We chose to head back to our new home away from home at Amsterdam Brewing instead, where we watched two of the best games of football from this year’s World Cup back-to-back. Neither of us are natural fans of the game, even though I played it for eleven years, but we sure came to love it on that trip. Seeing all these people gathered in this giant brewhouse, celebrating, creating friendly rivalries with the tables beside them, and/or genuinely cheering each other on was the most oddly heartwarming part of the whole damn trip. We drank too much, ate too much, and then in our infinite wisdom, found the wherewithal to take one last ride back to Gift Shop before it was all over to get a few more of those incredible drinks into us. It was a remarkable trip from start to finish, with the smoothest flights I’ve ever been on as well (thanks Porter!) – but as sad as I am that it’s over, I’m extremely grateful that I was able to take the time and actually enjoy it. Because that’s the difference y’all…I used to take the time because that’s kinda just what you do I suppose…but I didn’t used to be able to relax enough to actually enjoy the time off as much as I know that I should have. Maybe that’s me getting older…and if it is, then I’m A-OK with that.
Anyhow. This isn’t me posting to flex all the cool shit we did along the way so much as to say it was a moment in time where everything felt like it came together exactly as it should have. From the Uber drivers that carted us around town, to the people we stood shoulder to shoulder with in the crowds at concerts, to the waiters & waitresses in the restaurants and pubs we went to, to the random folks we met along the way between whatever point-A to point-B was on any given day, everybody we ran into was simply fantastic. What made that even more beautiful was that, with FIFA being in town and a ton of people being there from all parts of the world, there was a heightened sense of community and love like I haven’t seen in our shared common space for way too long. There’d be dudes with acoustic guitars playing in public places like The Well in Toronto, and so many folks would make a point of stopping to sit and have a listen. There were people in the pubs & brewhouses that might never have met each other at any other time in life, who would seem like inseparable best friends by the end of the night after watching a single game between their favorite teams. There were folks that were more than happy to talk for five minutes at the airport, the hotel, the restaurants…all willing to share a story with you or recommend a great place in the city to visit, and quite often other places in their own home countries too. A lot of people look for rest while they’re on vacation I guess, and maybe one day I will too…right now, I’m seeking out rejuvenation when I take a trip, and this latest one to Toronto provided exactly that. The way I see it, rejuvenation might not be the textbook definition of rest…heck, it might even be its polar opposite to a degree…but the effects are absolutely comparable and similar. I’ve got that spark and energy right now, and I’m completely excited about finishing off 2026 even stronger than it started.
Watch this space, as they say…lots of amazing stuff still to come out here on these pages of ours this year.
For now, I better get back to the immediate tasks at hand so I can start to heal the beating my wallet just took on this trip! Worth every damn penny y’all…if I could do it all over again, I would, and given how much of a great time we just had on this last vacation to Toronto…I think it’s safe to say that we will.
I’ll be back next week to drop the latest chapter of The Atrium on ya here in The Bearded Blog. Until then, continue to be excellent to each other, and keep your tunes turned up loud & proud.
Your ally in all-things-music,
– Jer @ SBS
