I’m a bike rider. It’s a relatively new identity for me. I’d rather ride my bike than walk or take transit. I will ride 13km and back to get a pay check. I will carry picnic goods on the back of my bike. I haven’t reached hardcore status though, because I do not ride in the rain.
ANYWAY. This isn’t about me. This is about the fact that if I decided to bike to a concert, I could potentially plug my bike in to power that very concert. I could ride a few extra kilometers to power the sound that will keep me dancing all night.
They refer to this idea as dancefloor activism. In the past I’ve heard about a group that figured out a way to harness the power of the movements that happen ON the dancefloor. Something about registering the vibrations. Anyway. Whoever they are (which I’ll try to find out later), imagine if they played a concert together?
Mr. Something Something will be making an appearance at the Spring Opening of Pedestrian Sundays. No cars allowed there!
Yesterday; biked to the grocery store, then biked to high park.
Almost died on the way when my bike rack’s spoke thingy came loose and got lodged into my gears.
Ate finger foods in the park. Held a beautiful baby on a blanket in the park. Layed around in the park. Played frisbee in the park
Went to an extremely elegant co-ed wedding shower and ate fancy open-faced sandwiches and talked to interesting people.
Slept ELEVEN HOURS… my body thanks me and will reward me with a desire to do more.
Today I crafted for a DIY wedding. I brought the giant bulletin board for the name tags on the back of my bike. Figuring out how to manage that without hurting myself or others certainly made me feel accomplished and full of pleasure.
Tomorrow I was going to go to this event, but then I found out I’ll be starting work literally 3 minutes from my house. So, going to City Hall for pancakes, fun as it may be, is not quite worth tiring myself out on a Monday morning.
Anyone else participating in their own Pleasure War?
I guess I’ll have to figure something fun out for the evening.
Wow. Kate Carraway, how did I not find your writing before? You kind of use swear words excessively, but you do it in a way that makes me feel like you’re shooting the shit with me on a porch, or in a park, or on a picnic, or playing bocce ball, and I love the HELL out of it! And THAT is why I WILL take your competitive leisure challenge, and I WILL try to have the most amazing summer ever.
In an article in EYE weekly called “It’s (pleasure) war,” Carraway demands a few things: that we make the most out of our summer, that we don’t spend all our time texting and facebooking our hours away… basically, that we compete with each other to have the best activities ever. I’m not quite sure I’m up for giving myself points for activities, but I do promise to try to do something fun every day. Lucky for me, I already have a job that on most days, is pretty damn fun, but that isn’t going to stop me from planning activities as often as possible.
If you’re invited, and you can’t come. I don’t care! Don’t make excuses about why you can’t come. Just do your other stuff and think about the next fun thing that you’re going to invite ME too. We’ll meet up eventually in battle!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a beautification project at a low-income, high-density housing project in Toronto. An ambitious landscape architect sought out and recieved government grants for a large-scale landscaping project.
When speaking with the landscape design advisor, I found out that tenants were given the opportunity to recieve free supplies and assistance in exchange for their labour hours on their own front or back yard. Almost a third of the residents opted to participate, and there are quite a few plots that are flourishing. This aspect of the project has vastly improved the sense of community within the complex. Apparently tenants used to be nearly invisible; staying inside their own units. The opportunity to tend to their own gardens and appreciate the work of their neighbours have increased the presence of tenants in the outdoors.
Also, this beautification project used hundreds of local volunteers to do a massive cleaning, tilling, and planting job. Youths who were particularly interested in and dedicated to the landscaping aspect had the opportunity to apply for three full-time, well-paid summer positions. Three youths were hired and are now responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the grounds.
It was inspiring.
The name of this post comes from an offer from one of the tenants. She wanted to know if I needed to use a washroom, and I gratefully accepted. She had at least 4 young children who welcomed me at the front door. I said hello and waved from outside and one ADORABLE little girl said ‘ooh MOM! she’s niiice!’ Of course this made me smile even more. As I came inside they were full of questions, starting with `Are you a teacher?’ I said that I wasn’t a teacher, I was a planter, and another little girl said ‘We already KNOW how to plant flowers…they need sun, water, and soil!’
This family thanked me numerous times for planting the flowers outside their unit, and offered us bottles of water.
