LEFTBANKED.

4.03.2020

738. Recent Life | Pre-Quarantine

Still living in quarantine and I've honestly lost all track of time! I've gotten used to it now that the thought of being in public places/eating at restaurants seems strange to me. Here is a final quick post from my pre-quarantine life. My next post will be more recent and I'll write more of my thoughts from these past weeks.

This is my newest Bearbrick! It's the Canada Goose x Polar Bears International edition. They released it several weeks ago. It is limited edition and I had to purchase it immediately the morning it was released (eagerly refreshing the website). I managed to get one before it sold out within minutes.

My avocado toasts from Earlybird. I feel I was one of their last customers lol. On the second to last day before everything shut down, I was the only customer there for hours.

Summoned for jury duty!! So its been something I've wanted to do for a long time (I can't believe I'm the only one who actually wanted to do it while everyone else is the opposite). I work remotely so it wouldn't affect my work much (unless I got stuck in a case for days). Long story but I actually got excused from doing it in the end. I was just there for a couple of hours. I was pretty upset after that lol but now I am over it. Hopefully I will get chosen again in the near future. The photo below was the sitting area where you wait. It was a huge room with a lot of chairs and a lot of people. It was kind of like an airport lounge. You are allowed to bring stuff to do, eat, go out for short breaks etc. There are also very clean washrooms.

During the couple hours I was there, I started reading Evicted. I have since finished it and it's my favourite book I've read so far in recent years. It was super interesting and I highly recommend it. There are some books that I read and purposely try to read slower so that I can enjoy it for longer (if you know what I mean hahah)..and this was one of them.

We have since given up on completing this puzzle and now it's put away, unfinished. :(

When I like an author, I usually buy all of their books. I really liked Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and What the Dog Saw. I'm almost done with David and Goliath. There were a couple interesting chapters but overall I didn't enjoy it as much as the others.

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737. Recent (Quarantine) Life | Coronavirus Edition

We are currently in a state of emergency due to the Coronavirus outbreak. In Toronto, most businesses are closed with the exception of grocery stores and pharmacies. Restaurants are still allowing takeout/delivery for now but apparently tomorrow, they must all shut down completely as well. I heard they may be announcing a total lockdown starting tomorrow but that may or may not be true. I personally hope it's true so that we can have this all under control faster.

The stock market has crashed and I have resisted checking my stocks for days now (normally I check multiple times a day) as I don't want to get depressed lol. Mainly I just look at the ones on my "To Buy" list as I'm happy to see them declining. As now (or when it bottoms out) will be the best time to buy more. So I am patiently waiting.

A lot of people are now working from home (or completely off work/unemployed). For me it doesn't make a huge difference since I've always worked from home..but I just can't go out to work at cafes anymore. I've been about 3x busier than I was before all this chaos though. As I work in the wedding/beauty industry, all our bookings for this month and next have to be postponed/rescheduled. I've spent the past several days dealing with a lot of panicked clients and rebooking everyone. Now it has calmed down a bit but two days ago I saw that I sent 200 emails within the day, which was probably a record for me. By the end of the day my wrist was actually sore from all the fast and non-stop typing all day lol. On top of work, I started an online course 10 days ago which has quite a heavy workload, so I've been trying to manage everything at the same time which isn't easy.

I am a bit jealous of most other people who are now stuck at home with more free time. I haven't really had any of that in the past week.

Today I finally have a bit of time to update my blog again (I am SUPER behind!! as always). Later I will go and stock up on more groceries. One positive about this whole situation is that we will be forced to cook all our meals for the next little while/save a lot by not eating out.

A lonely little Corona I found in the PATH.

Stocking up at Pusateri's.

**The following photos were from last month/pre-quarantine life, as I'm just trying to catch up now lol.

A few weeks ago we accidentally discovered True True. The place we had wanted to go was completely packed so we ended up coming here. It was nearly empty inside and we were not expecting much. But we ended up loving the place. This pumpkin hummus is soooooo good. My favourite is this bread though. It is freshly baked and very soft on the inside, with some seasoning and honey. I also got one of their flatbreads which was also amazing. We ended up going back the week after as well.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
The author, Oliver Sacks, is a neurologist. In this book he recounts the stores of patients he's had and their unique cases.

Terroni Adelaide in the photos above, La Bettola di Terroni in the photo below

Gulp by Mary Roach I love all of Mary Roach's books (my favourite is Stiff so far) as they're always about weird and interesting topics nobody else writes about. She writes in an engaging and humorous way. This one is about the alimentary canal.

My new favourite place is Early Bird! I can't believe it has taken me so long to try it. Their avocado toast is so good. Sometimes they make it into the shape of a rose (I'll show a pic of that in my next post). This is the plain avocado toast and below is the one with an egg and salmon.

Our "28th-month anniversary" at Nord Bistro. We first went here on one of our first dates and I had always wanted to go back.

A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility by Amor TowlesI loooooved both these books. They are the first and only fiction books I've read in years. They're both beautifully written and really captivating. I will try, one of these days, to do more formal book review posts.

But unfortunately with my current schedule I doubt I'll be able to read much more from now on lol.

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736. La Coruna in November | Part 2

Finally after months of delay..here is my final post of my November Edinburgh & La Coruna trip! I'm thinking now that I've completed all the "recent" vacation posts maybe I can go back and finish the leftover Asia posts from years ago hahah. I still want to post them all eventually as I don't like having things undone. No matter how long its been. Since the current coronavirus has delayed our travel plans (we were originally planning to visit China in April)..I can now have a bit of time to catch up on travel posts.

Above is the Tower of Hercules, an ancient Roman lighthouse in La Coruna. It's the oldest of its kind still in use today.