And as of this writing, 9. It shows that when enough people give a shit about our common well-being even if the motivation is to protect ourselves first , we can accomplish damn near anything. I even learned how to play dreidel. In fact, was alright not too bad for me personally, in spite of some challenges. We rang in the new year with Tina at Greenwood Park, after meeting up for a drink at a small, crowded bar on Gerrard Street. Fuck, can you imagine going to a crowded, narrow bar now?
Hell no! The first event that set the tone for was the death of Neil Peart, my drumming hero, on January 7th. Another big family gathering that would be illegal now! A highlight of that evening was taking a picture of Willow the cat staring at a wall.
On January 17th, they issued me a letter stating that my contract would come to an end on February 16th, unless they found funding. So as disappointed as I was, I started winding down, by calling and informing my clients and taking my belongings home. The Raptors actually won, which is unheard of for a Toronto team when I attend a major-league game. Around that same time, I joined Planet Fitness. We went two or three times before the plague shut it down.
Also in January, I recorded a couple of Neil Young songs on GarageBand and sent them to my dad electronically to add parts to, and we sent them back and forth until they were finished in the spring. It was nice to be able to do that. This was the first time that I sang lead vocals on a completed recorded song, even if it was a cover. In late January, the first known case of coronavirus came to Canada. Nothing was shut down; there was no panic-buying, and everyone was still carrying on pretty much normally, albeit perhaps washing our hands a bit more and making more effort to stay away from people who were coughing… But if only I knew in late January what I know now…if only we all knew.
We could see and hear the falls from our room. We treated ourselves to a delicious buffet breakfast both mornings Remember buffets? We walked down to the falls, which were flowing, but the mist had created an icy wonderland all over the surrounding trees, grass, and railings.
