I have been enjoying my time in Montreal, but now I really don't have any money left. The place I am staying has a free meal and live music tonight anyway. Doesn't really matter that I don't have any money left. Anyway, I left a bunch of loonies and quarters for myself for when I get back to Toronto. I have 2 bottles of beer left over from last night. I still have enough weed for another joint. Don't really imagine I'll travel too far from the hostel between now and returning home tomorrow at 5PM.
I had a little mishap with charging a 3 day metro pass and a 1 day pass to my charge cards. Essentially I ended up losing $16 and the whole thing created confusion which resulted in me being stuck out at some subway station east of here. I had the hardest time trying to explain my problem to the ticket guy. I totally thought I had a 3 day pass and went all the way out to the middle of nowhere with only about 50 cents in change in my purse. Luckily the ticket guy had pity on me and let me get a free ride back to the hostel. I don't know what happened to the 3 day pass I paid for, but I guess I got punked on that.
Today I was up near Mont Royal and I took a few photographs of graffiti with my cell phone. I'll put up the pictures when I get back to Toronto. I've had the minor annoyance of not being able to access my cell phone and I haven't felt like calling customer service to sort it out. I figure I'll go in and talk to my cell phone provider about how the $20 I put on my phone to be able to make calls and use the internet did not work. That kind of pissed me off. If I hadn't spent that $20 I'd have been able to do something more exciting with my day today. Not that I feel really upset that I haven't got much money left. They still have the crazy low prices on pizza that they had 15 years ago. I was able to eat lunch today for $1.76. The hostel has free coffee. I bought a bunch of snacks before I left and I haven't even really touched them. Breakfast at the hostel is free and the croissants they offer aren't as lousy as the croissants I've noticed a lot of people have been trying to pass off as edible in various establishments. Much better than the lousy croissant I had at the Moonbeam Cafe the other day in Toronto.
Taking this trip was the best idea I have had in a long time. It's great to be away from people and not have to worry about bumping into any idiots out on the street. Of course, Michael Dent was the last person I bumped into on the streets of Toronto and it was actually a cheery experience to have him shout out his hello from the streetcar he was passing on. It's not like everybody who I know in Toronto is somebody I dislike bumping into. Saw him as I was entering the dreadful mobile provider who charged me for something that didn't even work.
I don't like fixating on little problems, of course, but it was kind of annoying to not be able to access facebook and all my kindle books on my phone on the way up. At least I had a game to play, though I only have one game downloaded and it's not that fun. It's a game with a little ninja which runs along and you can make him flip and he has to go through some obstacles without dying. Not actually the funnest game I have ever played.
Last night I did go out to see that play at Theatre St Catherine which was directed by a childhood classmate. I enjoyed myself. The theatre serves beer and I had one before the performance began. Play was called 'Cornered' with these 2 boxing guys talking on a stage. It was almost like theatre in the round. There was a boxing ring which the performance took place in and the audience was seated on either side. A humorous play. It was worth seeing.
I thought I had $40 to spend at the occult shop, but when I went to make my purchase it was then discovered that I had been doubled charged on the bus pass. I got really confused buying the bus pass because all the instructions were in French and I didn't know what it was saying. I kept on thinking it was declining my credit card, but I was wrong. So I put charges on both of my 2 card for the purchase and the machine spat out a bunch of papers. Unfortunately, the pass it spat out was a 1 day pass even though I'd spent money on a 3 day pass. I don't know what happened to the 3 day pass. Maybe the person behind me in the line lucked out with a freebie. It's a waste of money, but I don't want to cry over spilled milk. What's done is done.
The pagan supply store was quite nice and I was told that all that I wanted can be purchased on the website anyway. It just would have been nice to have a little memento from my trip. I found another kind of metaphysical store on the way to Mont Royal, but the store was all about angels. Reminded me of the delusion I once had in my early twenties that I would meet my guardian angel if I climbed Mont Royal. Don't ask me how I got that idea in my head. It was back when I thought the whole universe was talking to me, and in some ways I still think it was a real experience and not just insanity. Metaphysical experiences can seem like insanity and sometimes they can seem like a lot of utter nonsense. I just don't ever want to get as insane as that guy I was dating who thought he had decoded some special message from a bingo card he found on the ground and also believed he was having conversations with Kurt Cobain's ghost in his head. I like to try to stay level headed about anything unusual which happens to me. I also don't generally blab about every single bit of syncronicity I experience like he did.
I guess it is still early. In exactly 24 hours I will be returning to Toronto. I'm looking forward to getting back and gradually working on pulling in a little bit of money. Wish I could afford to take trips like this every month. And, I will still need to pay for a Christmas trip up to Brockville for a few days. Next trip I plan to take is to Quebec City in February. Smaller city, so hopefully it won't be too confusing. I remember some stuff about Montreal from those 4 months I lived here back when I was 20, but it still gets confusing with all the French. Though I do enjoy being exposed to a completely different culture. I could see enjoying living in this city and visiting here has me toying with the idea of what it would be like to live here. I do find Toronto to be dreadfully boring and kind of a capitalistic place. The bars stay open until 3 AM in Montreal. In Toronto they close at 2 AM. City has an entirely different vibe.
Montreal does look like a poorer city than Toronto. There are so many little things that look like they need to be repaired or fixed up in the subway. In Toronto everything looks bright, new, and excessively clean. Not saying this makes Toronto any better. The architecture in Montreal is truly beautiful and unique. But, the building all seem so much shorter. Toronto always has more and more skyscrapers everywhere. In Montreal on most of the streets you can actually see the sky above the buildings.
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