Anniversaries

I've always been bad with anniversaries. I didn't even notice until just now that my blog has been up for a year! Did anyone feel a tremble of pleasure on Friday (the 16th) when they realised that they have been enjoying my deep thoughts and bon mots for (up to) a year? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Now that the back-slapping is over, back to the news of the day. This year was the thirtieth anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival and Saturday evening at Roy Thomson Hall was the closing night, with just one screening. I was Volunteer Captain again, so I got a good view of the red carpet. The crush was for Justin Timberlake, but I was more interested in seeing Morgan Freeman, who looked great. Unfortunately I have no opinion to offer on Edison as there were no seats left for volunteers. Our green room team went out for a premature celebratory drink and were late getting back to their post-screening positions, so I was also briefly pressed into duty there.

The anticipated event was the Closing Night volunteer party though, the secret location of which was the York Event Theatre. The York is just a few blocks from my home, so I anticipated no impediments to a long happy night. The venue was packed, the DJ was good, and I spent the evening wandering through the crowd sharing a drink or dancing with friends, both new and old. There was an open bar, but almost no food! A dangerous combination, both in terms of alcohol consumption and long memories. A lot of people were hungry and annoyed, and it may come back to haunt the Festival during the next round of volunteer recruitment. The value of the free labour we provided at just the Roy Thomson Theatre alone is at least $60,000 by my calculation.

Still we managed to have a good time and unwind from ten days of magic and mayhem. I got home around 3:00 AM and slept until noon...

Update on Sheryl's daughter's fake suicide: Jade spoke to her mother a few hours before her idiotic stunt, reporting furiously that she was being sent to jail for three years and that a letter her mother had sent to the court had been instrumental in the harshness of the sentence. In fact the letter pleaded for leniency and we now know it was instrumental in reducing the harshness of the sentence. Jade was actually only given a three year suspended sentence. What is going on in that girl's mind?

Listening to: One More Time by Daft Punk from Discovery.