I was the first of our group of four to get to get to the customs desk in Toronto. I handed the officer my declaration form and passport. He looked at the section where I marked that the main purpose of my trip was business.

“What business do you have here?”

“Uh, academic conference.”

“Where is the conference?” he asked and looked at the 5 year old picture on my passport.

“The Hilton. No, the Sheraton downtown,” I said.

“What’s the topic of the conference.”

I froze momentarily.

“Um, higher education and institutional research.”

He handed my documents back to me and waved me along to baggage claim.

I’ve attended a number of academic conferences during my graduate school career, but this was the first one in (a) a new city and (b) out of the country.

I got the business stuff done early on Monday. While Canadians were out celebrating Victoria Day, my colleagues and I presented a paper on graduate students in science and their relationships with their advisors, faculty, lab mates and other peers. That went well, and thankfully I had a good public speaking day. Even better, our PI/my advisor liked the presentation.

I spent the rest of my short trip eating through my per diem, running along Lake Ontario, biking from downtown to High Park and back along the lake front, and hanging out with new/old grad school friends. I wish I had some photos from the parks along the lake and during my bike ride, but I’m much more concerned about my safety biking through a busy, unfamiliar street to whip out my camera. And I never take my camera out with my while running. It’s too bulky and I’m too busy, you know, running.

I’d love to go back to Toronto when the weather isn’t so finicky (it was warm/sunny, and then cool with light rain everyday) and I have more time to visit. We were really close to the Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays play, but the team was out of town. If they weren’t, I’d definitely have gone to a game. I also remembered on my last day and last few hours of sightseeing that the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels are set in Toronto. When I visited the Baldwin Steps and Casa Loma, both felt familiar. I kicked myself for not doing a Scott Pilgrim tour of the city. Oh well.

Ever since my friends and I got pulled aside and grilled by US customs agents as we returned from Vancouver, I get nervous crossing the border or going through customs at the airport. This time I worried they wouldn’t think I was the same person in my passport photo since (a) that photo is from 2005; and (b) I look much different. Fortunately, the US Customs agents asked fewer questions and I had no trouble getting back in to the states.

I’ve never been in to April Fools’ Day. I’m a really bad liar. My face always gives it away or I’ll start laughing. If I want to pull of a prank, it has to be written. I pulled off a semi-convincing prank 6 years ago, but never did anything like that again. Pranks take creativity, planning and time. I tend to procrastinate and this year was no different.

I was pretty busy on Friday with job1, job2, helping Sean move and then getting to a Dodger game in the evening. I thought of a couple joke posts, but didn’t have time to write anything until after the game. Afterward, I just posted to Twitter and Facebook.

My tweet: At the store at Dodger Stadium. Looking to buy a pink* cap. (This is my April Fools tweet.)

After the fireworks show, I posted this to FB:
Since I’ll be marrying Sean, I’ve decided to adopt his team. I’m now a Yankees fan. Goodbye Dodger blue, hello pinstripes.

I later updated my profile picture with the photo above, but I’m pretty sure no one was convinced.

As for the failed posts, I thought about announcing the creation of a new blog.

31 percent
A new blog focused on living a healthy lifestyle from a Chicana’s viewpoint. It’ll be called 31 Percent in reference to the percent of weight I lost. The new blog will be modeled on A Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss and feature posts on my own weight loss story (which I rarely wrote about as I went through it), exercise and workout ideas (with a focus on running, duh), daily meals with photos, recipes, and tips for staying motivated to reach your goals.

JaMexican Wedding
Sean and I will collaborate on a wedding planning blog. We’ve both begun poking around wedding planning blogs and planning sites. They’re not too helpful since the writers’ idea of a large wedding would probably only include my family. With the rise in intermarriage rates, we also thought we’d documented the trials and tribulations of trying to incorporate two cultural traditions, hence the name, a combination of Jamaican and Mexican.

Sean talked me out of JaMexican Wedding because he said some of my readers might want to read about this and would be disappointed to find out it was a joke. Then I’d feel compelled to write wedding planning posts. As for 31 Percent, I find keeping food diaries a chore (though helpful). Taking photos of every single meal would be worse.

I’m not a fan of pink athletic or workout gear, especially when it’s replacing a team’s actual colors. Actually, I’m not much of a fan of pink in general.

I should be sleeping. I need to run 13.1 miles in Long Beach in about eight hours (I’ll start shortly after 7 am). But first, I need to make sure my music is in order, ’cause that’s what matters, right? Plus, focusing on music keeps my mind off of the pre-race jitters and worries.

Isa mentioned moving out first.

“I’m looking to buy a house,” she told me. “I’ve got a realtor and everything.”

I was impressed and a little sad for what the near-future would bring, the end of five and half years of living together.

Adja gave her notice next.

“I need to move out. I’ll be returning to Senegal soon to visit my mom.”

“When?”

“Probably at the end of the year.”

The end of the year came and went, but Adja stuck around and moved out at the end of January, right around the time Isa put in a bid for a house. Adja left cards for both Isa and me thanking us for more than four years of drama-free leaving.

And I was left wondering what to do.

Should I go for change and move east or stay on the Westside?
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