Two flights brought me to the Kitchener airport in Ontario, Canada, from the USA. Then a cab and two buses finally brought me to Toronto for the Pan-Am Games. I found my hotel and saw a comedy show in the evening. On the way to the hotel I saw somebody showing off a live snake downtown.
This is my third visit to Canada, and my first to Toronto. On the flight the couple from Las Cruces liked the one about 'We can marry you at the airport' when I arrived back at MSP after visiting Great Britain in 2012. Since I was traveling with somebody I wasn't married to. But I said I didn't want to get married there, same as Mall of America, which has a wedding chapel. One kid was visiting family and his passport was around is neck in a plastic sleeve like a St. Bernard.
When I arrived at the airport of course I went through customs, I said I do stand-up comedy but didn't expect to be paid for any performances in Canada, this was largely a vacation for me. My guess is I would need a work visa if I was being paid. This airport looked small, not many airlines service it. I chose it as I wanted to use miles from my American Airlines account to make it a free flight. I am not sure why it was hard to fly into Toronto unless it was the airline I chose, or possibly due to the Games themselves. I was smart enough to turn down an offer from a cabbie to take me all the way to Toronto, as it would have been well over a hundred dollars. What I found online said a van would be less than half this amount. So he ended up taking me to the bus station in town, 35 dollars. This still proved to be more than the buses that I rode the rest of the way into Toronto. I had wanted to find a place to eat but it wasn't possible due to various factors. One of them was the convenience store at the bus station didn't accept my Visa card, out of country maybe? And the ATM didn't work there either. So I ate nothing in Kitchener as I didn't want to be in town for long. I wanted to be on the next available bus when it left town, which was in 10-15 minutes as I recall. When I was walking a few blocks from the bus station to the bus out of town, as it was too big to pull into the bus station, I got a picture of a plastic flamingo. A construction worker who was directing pedestrian traffic in the area took notice, and asked to pose for one of my pictures with another flamingo. I couldn't hear him at first due to the construction but I turned him down, which is not typical of me, as I said I needed to get to Toronto. We had to wait for a replacement bus along the way as the air conditioning stopped working, and it was warm in the back of the bus. All of us moved, and I eventually went to the upper level as it was a double decker. When I got to 'Square One', and I understand I was in a suburb of Toronto, it was where I had to transfer for another bus. The name bothered me a little as I thought of the term 'Back to square one', but I took a leap of faith that I could still get to my destination without much fuss or muss and I did. It didn't cost much to ride the second bus, less than the first. I ended up in downtown Toronto near Union Station, and knew I needed to find a place to eat by then. I found a McDonalds in the lower level of a shopping area nearby, I think it was close to the hockey Hall of Fame. From previous visits to Canada I am used to how at McDonald's there is a maple leaf on the golden arches to let you know what nation you are in.
I am staying at a college dormitory at Ryerson University, but I don't need much while in town, as I expect to be busy for most of the time and just need a place to sleep. I noticed I had a low battery on my camera so I left it at the hotel to recharge and found a comedy show just a few blocks south of there. I had been recommended Time to Laugh and Yuk Yuk's but I wasn't at either of these. The show had two MCs, a man and a woman. She spoke of being a 'trans woman' and started off with jokes about Joan Rivers, a slut, and a hooker. A later comic spoke of finding an ex on Facebook. Another spoke of a kid's birthday. I heard the term 'Zed' being used, I do not hear it often in the USA but I know it refers to the letter 'Z'. I also heard a comic make on observation about rape jokes are fine, pedophile is not. I know I seem to notice this at most shows I attend. One comic was wearing a Clarkville Cardinals shirt and spoke of Plenty of Fish internet dating. A later comic spoke of 'Fist me', which I know can mean various things. Others were about handle me at my worst, and the movie Patch Adams. I also heard a reference to Bruce Jenner, and Jared from Subway, and rob a vending machine.
After the show I spoke of being from the Twin Cities outside the club, and showed the list I was given. I was told of one place on Sunday where it was show up get up, so I think I will go to that one. What I liked about this venue was how clean it looked compared to many of the comedy venues I am used to seeing, where one can expect to see some graffiti in the bathrooms. But I did not see anything like that here. I found some ice cream at a nearby McDonald's, a different one than the one I have already mentioned. When I was coming out there was a lovers quarrel in the street, it was a middle aged couple. The woman was wearing a Maple Leafs hockey hat. She spoke of being hit by a chain. I didn't want to hear how it was going to end and got out of there right away, back to my hotel. And there was a panhandler outside the club, one comic gave him a coin but I gave him nothing. Bot of these things I witnessed reminded me of what I have observed before, how the difference between the 'Haves and have-nots' is much more pronounced in big cities.
This is my third visit to Canada, and my first to Toronto. On the flight the couple from Las Cruces liked the one about 'We can marry you at the airport' when I arrived back at MSP after visiting Great Britain in 2012. Since I was traveling with somebody I wasn't married to. But I said I didn't want to get married there, same as Mall of America, which has a wedding chapel. One kid was visiting family and his passport was around is neck in a plastic sleeve like a St. Bernard.
When I arrived at the airport of course I went through customs, I said I do stand-up comedy but didn't expect to be paid for any performances in Canada, this was largely a vacation for me. My guess is I would need a work visa if I was being paid. This airport looked small, not many airlines service it. I chose it as I wanted to use miles from my American Airlines account to make it a free flight. I am not sure why it was hard to fly into Toronto unless it was the airline I chose, or possibly due to the Games themselves. I was smart enough to turn down an offer from a cabbie to take me all the way to Toronto, as it would have been well over a hundred dollars. What I found online said a van would be less than half this amount. So he ended up taking me to the bus station in town, 35 dollars. This still proved to be more than the buses that I rode the rest of the way into Toronto. I had wanted to find a place to eat but it wasn't possible due to various factors. One of them was the convenience store at the bus station didn't accept my Visa card, out of country maybe? And the ATM didn't work there either. So I ate nothing in Kitchener as I didn't want to be in town for long. I wanted to be on the next available bus when it left town, which was in 10-15 minutes as I recall. When I was walking a few blocks from the bus station to the bus out of town, as it was too big to pull into the bus station, I got a picture of a plastic flamingo. A construction worker who was directing pedestrian traffic in the area took notice, and asked to pose for one of my pictures with another flamingo. I couldn't hear him at first due to the construction but I turned him down, which is not typical of me, as I said I needed to get to Toronto. We had to wait for a replacement bus along the way as the air conditioning stopped working, and it was warm in the back of the bus. All of us moved, and I eventually went to the upper level as it was a double decker. When I got to 'Square One', and I understand I was in a suburb of Toronto, it was where I had to transfer for another bus. The name bothered me a little as I thought of the term 'Back to square one', but I took a leap of faith that I could still get to my destination without much fuss or muss and I did. It didn't cost much to ride the second bus, less than the first. I ended up in downtown Toronto near Union Station, and knew I needed to find a place to eat by then. I found a McDonalds in the lower level of a shopping area nearby, I think it was close to the hockey Hall of Fame. From previous visits to Canada I am used to how at McDonald's there is a maple leaf on the golden arches to let you know what nation you are in.
I am staying at a college dormitory at Ryerson University, but I don't need much while in town, as I expect to be busy for most of the time and just need a place to sleep. I noticed I had a low battery on my camera so I left it at the hotel to recharge and found a comedy show just a few blocks south of there. I had been recommended Time to Laugh and Yuk Yuk's but I wasn't at either of these. The show had two MCs, a man and a woman. She spoke of being a 'trans woman' and started off with jokes about Joan Rivers, a slut, and a hooker. A later comic spoke of finding an ex on Facebook. Another spoke of a kid's birthday. I heard the term 'Zed' being used, I do not hear it often in the USA but I know it refers to the letter 'Z'. I also heard a comic make on observation about rape jokes are fine, pedophile is not. I know I seem to notice this at most shows I attend. One comic was wearing a Clarkville Cardinals shirt and spoke of Plenty of Fish internet dating. A later comic spoke of 'Fist me', which I know can mean various things. Others were about handle me at my worst, and the movie Patch Adams. I also heard a reference to Bruce Jenner, and Jared from Subway, and rob a vending machine.
After the show I spoke of being from the Twin Cities outside the club, and showed the list I was given. I was told of one place on Sunday where it was show up get up, so I think I will go to that one. What I liked about this venue was how clean it looked compared to many of the comedy venues I am used to seeing, where one can expect to see some graffiti in the bathrooms. But I did not see anything like that here. I found some ice cream at a nearby McDonald's, a different one than the one I have already mentioned. When I was coming out there was a lovers quarrel in the street, it was a middle aged couple. The woman was wearing a Maple Leafs hockey hat. She spoke of being hit by a chain. I didn't want to hear how it was going to end and got out of there right away, back to my hotel. And there was a panhandler outside the club, one comic gave him a coin but I gave him nothing. Bot of these things I witnessed reminded me of what I have observed before, how the difference between the 'Haves and have-nots' is much more pronounced in big cities.
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