Cynical Romantic

Hi everyone! I have been MIA lately precisely due to the ... NHL playoffs. Been spending all my time in pubs and watching games with friends and such. Now that my Habs are (heartbreakingly) out of things, I figured I'd check in and say hello to everyone. So I missed my chance to make picks in the pool... that's okay, though, because I won last year and I figure it's only fair for the title to go to someone else. Anyway, I'm so very proud of how the bleu-blanc-rouge played this year. Halak, Cammalleri, Subban and the rest of the boys did good. Philly v. Chicago for Stanley - I'm kinda hoping for Chi-town (gotta hate those broad street bullies) but on the other hand, the schadenfreude part of me wants to see Hossa lose for a third straight year in the finals. What will happen, with Chicago having all the strength and Philly having all the momentum? To be seen, I suppose.

Don't get me wrong, we have summer too, and it does get hot here. Maybe not Adelaide-hot, but it gets humid and sticky and climbs over the 30-degree mark regularly. But if you have no experience at all with cold winters, don't underestimate them. I have friends who have come here from Australia with their "winter clothes" and, upon arriving here, chucked them all out, shaking their heads at how naive they were. I haven't been to Bondi beach but I've been to St. Kilda in Melbourne and to Manly in Sydney. And yes, I've been up to Mission Beach and the Whitsundays - it was just after Cyclone Larry, though, back in '06, so the area around Mission Beach was pretty much a mess. Went sailing in the Whitsundays, got absolutely massacred by mosquitoes and got sick and it rained the whole time and I probably had an experience similar to your Melbourne one (i.e. clouded opinion). I was in the Sunshine Coast area for a bit (Noosa, etc.) and that was awesome. Agree in general that the beaches in Queensland are superior to those in NSW, from what I've seen... other than the whole jellyfish issue, of course. But I digress. The difference between French from France and French from Quebec is much more marked than that. No matter how much French you learn ahead of time, I can guarantee you'll have a hard time understanding people here when you first get here. But that's all part of the fun of travel, isn't it? Best way to learn a language? Get yourself a hottie French boyfriend.

Wow, haven't been here in a while, and then I see a whole thread devoted to my home city. So, I'm a Montrealer and I've been to Sydney. Both awesome cities. Montreal's probably closer in feel to Melbourne than to Sydney, though. Very arts-and-cafe culture here. And no beach. Sydney has a beach. And hot weather. Very hot weather. Montreal has very cold weather. And lots of snow. And hockey, of course. So if you prefer the cold to the heat (like me), then you'll probably prefer Montreal. Just don't underestimate the brutal winters - they'll kick your ass. Montreal's a very liberal, multicultural city. And yes, very GLBT-friendly, though nobody really makes a big deal about that anymore. It's sort of live and let live, you know? My friends are a very mixed bunch. It's been years since anyone has batted an eyelash in my circles, anyway. Yeah, there's the Village (though most of the people moving in lately are young straight couples with kids) and there's Divers/Cite and the festivals and stuff, but it's just sort of a part of the incredibly diverse fabric of the city. Summer is nonstop festivals anyway, and everyone kind of gets into the spirit of things. People are more likely to pay attention to whether you're a vegan cycling activist who eats organic than to your sexuality, whatever it may be. It's just a non-issue, unless you want it to be. Quebecois/French is sort of like Australian English/American English. Same language, but just barely. The accents and expressions are very different. But don't worry about it too much; if you were to spend any length of time here, you'd adapt. English is widely spoken, too. And new immigrants to Quebec can get free French lessons from the government. Is there bullshit to deal with here? Sure there is. The language politics crap crops up every once in a while, usually when politicians are trying to stir up shit for votes. The economic woes have led to a massive population migration to Toronto over the past quarter-century for jobs. If you don't speak French it can be a bit tricky to find gainful employment, though contacts help here. Our roads have potholes the size of, well, Australia, and we just re-elected a massively corrupt mayor because the other choices were even worse. Not to mention, it was minus-30 last week. So it's not paradise here, by any means. All that being said - and I'm biased because I adore my city - but, having traveled all over the world, I really believe this is the best place in the world to live. Come visit, check it out, see what you think. (By the way: The guys with French accents? Highly overrated. IMHO, the guys with Australian accents are much hotter. But, the grass is always greener and all that, right?)

It's because the provincial governments impose hefty taxes on alcohol, and maintain distribution monopolies (or something close). That said, there's still plenty of good, inexpensive wine available, if you know what to buy. For instance, in Quebec, the SAQ keeps a very good, varied stock of French wine, but a lot of the New World wines are more expensive and harder to find. In Ontario it's the opposite at the LCBO, to an extent.

Was just going to post this but you all beat me to it. Big day for India.

Nah, that's just typical American melodrama. See, you guys decide you want a country, you have to go out all rah-rah with your guns and your battle cries of freedom or death. We decide we want a country, we just say ask nicely and mind our Ps and Qs. Much less messy that way.

From Draft Weekend to Free Agent Frenzy... So the Habs get Gomez (waste of money), Cammalleri (good pickup), Spacek and Gill (not bad). Komisarek (the traitor!) is now a Leaf. Bouwmeester signs with Calgary. Edmonton gets Khabibulin in nets, and moves Roloson to the Islanders. Hossa heads to Chicago. The Canucks re-sign the Sedin twins. Boston locks in Thomas. And that's just the tip of the iceberg... Follow the frenzy here.

Hey, as a country we're younger, but technically we're much older. Quebec City just celebrated its 400th anniversary this year. How many places in the States can say that? And Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! Happy Moving Day to my fellow Montrealers. Happy Free Agency Day to my fellow hockey fans.

90 million dollars is real power. That's change-the-world kind of money. Personally, if I were to win that kind of money, I'd see it as a responsibility to truly do something to change the world in a grandiose, C.J. Cregg sort of way. I mean, sure, invest some, spend some lavishly, give some to friends and family. But you'll still be left with a helluvalot of money at the end of that, and what's the point of having that kind of money if you can't do something really amazing with it? Then again, I'd never win that sort of money, mainly because I don't play the lottery. It's a voluntary tax on people who aren't very good at math.

Interesting topic. It's all just shorthand, though. Labels based on society's stereotypes, which are bound to be offensive by their very nature. Hell, as a woman, I could argue that I find the term "effeminate" offensive, because it means "female-acting", which implies that all women act a certain way, which, of course, is not true either. But, bottom line: If you're looking for inoffensive political correctness and you're on Craigslist, you're probably in the wrong place.

What, no comments about the draft?

The Hockey Hall of Fame is awesome, though it shouldn't be located in Toronto when it clearly belongs in Montreal. Just sayin'. Aside from that, Toronto pretty much sucks. For more on this topic, see this thread.

Bryan Adams, Jim Carrey, Michael J. Fox, and the Sutherlands aren't from Quebec. And I said Oscar Peterson.

A tip regarding "top sites" or "bookmarks": I use Delicious to store my bookmarks. Then, if I need my computer to be public-friendly, I can just sign out, and sign back in later and all my bookmarks are right back waiting for me.

I thought it served Hossa right, and couldn't resist a little 'HA-ha', Nelson-style.