Oy.  A week out on the road (well, in the air, as it were) with no sleep and lots of alcohol and rock ‘n’ roll means I’m ready to get home and spend a few relaxing nights in my own bed, watching my own TiVo/cable, eating a little better and getting back into my routine.  It’s nice to get away and break out of the routine, because it makes you appreciate the familiar a little more when you come back to it.  And I have to admit that the overall situation was a little intimidating to walk into, since I knew practically no one here when I walked in, pushing me way outside my comfort zone.  I like to have at least one person I know to hang around with, and this time, I was totally on my own.  But I made it and have been social to the point where when my friend Myra came by the hotel this morning to take me out, I kept saying hi to people on my way out and she thought I was showing off.

Despite the lack of initial comfort and the fact that my liver probably hates me right now, I’m really glad I got the experience of coming up here.  I met a lot of very cool people, I finally got a chance to see Toronto, I had some cool experiences, and I made a lot of professional contacts that will help me as well.  But I have to admit that I’m a little scared by the fact that they have women’s hockey here, and curling seems to be on TV all the freakin’ time.  Seriously.  At 3am last night in the bar, curling was still on the TV!

Yesterday, I met up with the guy who runs The Edge, the big alternative station up here (and for you Canadians, the guy who does The Ongoing History of New Music), and he took me up to the station to show me around.  Plus, Johnny Rotten (formerly of the Sex Pistols) was coming in to their studios to do an interview.  My new friend told me, “I’ve had this poster on my wall for 11 years” — and points to a Sex Pistols poster signed by the three other members of the band… with an open space where Johnny’s signature should be.  He took the poster off the wall, unwrapped it and took it down to the studio, where, after the interview, Johnny finally signed it.  After 11 years, the poster’s destiny has finally been completed.  I felt like I was witnessing history.

This morning, I finally got a chance to break away from the convention to see the aforementioned Myra, who took me out for brunch and then we went up to the CN Tower, which is the tallest freestanding structure in the world.  On the observation deck, there’s actually a section that has a glass floor, where you can stand on what’s basically a window between you and the ground several hundred meters below.  It’s a little freaky.  It was a little hazy and cloudy today, but the financial district was right there.  Also, we were able to go up to the Sky Pod, which is, as it says, the world’s highest observation deck.  In a twist of technological geekery, we were so high up that I actually got a Verizon Wireless signal from the U.S. all the way across Lake Ontario — my cell phone has been roaming for the past few days.

Tomorrow, I head back to L.A., where things are not in metric, and there is no curling.  But I hope to come back here someday soon.