Condo(r)man!

Welcome to the land of the condo! Everyone here either dreams of having one, is building one, or works in an industry selling 'em!

Due to lack of space Toronto is basically a land of condominiums and ramshackle houses that (one day) will be knocked down to make way for yet another new block of apartments!

Sorry condos on the brain .. always seems to be the hot topic of discussion among the up and coming Torontarians...

Aaaaaanyhoo, I've gotta update this blog.. considering I built the damn thing and need to keep up appearences

Basically I've found a place to stay.. and Paul's gaff it be! Yup, we decided that it would work out best if I stayed put in Paul's apartment since:

(a) it saves me a whopping rent than if I went out and rented an unfurnished apt (which I would THEN need to furnish!)

(b) I can help Paul and his bro out with the rent on their place

(c) I get along well with them and saves me having to put up with noisy flatmates while I try to do work from home!

Hmmm what else? Ah yes my working-from-home stint has been going down quite well. It's not as anti-social as I imagined since I can always share a beer with the lads in the evening, and during my working hours I can still pester my old workmates via MSN Messenger and Skype (the most true blessed application every created on Allah's planet)

I've also become a fairly avid 'chef'. Throwing together random ingredients together for the sheer sake of survival (there's a fair amount of fattening ready-made meals in TO, so you really need to home-cook if yer gonna eat healthy). It's also to make up for the empty space in my stomach reserved for Mum's lasagne! Mama Mia!

Adeel Abbassi, an old school buddy of mine from Bahrain, and who is currently living in NYC, popped up to see Paul and myself last weekend. Last time I saw Adeel was of course when I was last in NYC !

We had a great weekend, although I quickly developed a pretty chronic flu which has seriously affected my social skillz here... not too attractive me chatting away and then sneezing half my nasal cavity into your face. Yummy.

Adeel is an eating machine.. the man was able to out eat myself and Paul at every large brunch and humoungous dinner that we had that weekend. I'm STILL full just thinking about it in fact. Ironically he never puts on weight and still resembles a "little skinny Indian" (his own words ). He will also become our personal physician when he qualifies as a doc in March. Cue Adeel walking around with "I can prescribe anything baby" tshirt.

Fwad "Food" Malik is another old school buddy who we've discovered is ALSO living in Ontario, chained down with a wife and mortgage! We got chatting over the phone last weekend and plan to meet up soon again. Thankfully I think he eats like a normal person, so no need to loosen the belt just yet.

Hmm.... well life ticks on here as normal. Work during the day, party hard at night, and end up in the mental ward at the weekends.

The adventure won't REALLY begin till I get a car...

That'll be a new chapter on this mofo land I'm in... snowboarding and street crime awaits! Yih!


P.S. It's finally snowing here! After a snow-less December and early January it's been getting steadily colder and - eventually - the streets are covered in white powdery stuff. It's really quite beautiful and adds a serene "calmness" to the bustling city atmosphere.