People I Miss In Toronto

I was cruising through my analytics and see that someone in Spain has found my blog. How cool. It seems as though it must have been by accident, as they didn't stay for very long. Still, it is nice to know that my blog has a global reach.

Trying to keep up my pace here and I don't really know what to blog about, so I though I would do some "grass is greener" belly-gazing and blog about all the people I miss in Toronto. I didn't really hang out much with people, which if I could do all over again, I would have maybe gotten a little more social during my time spent there. So many good people that I worked with, and would love to see again if I had a chance. These include:

Jason Ainsworth -- My friend in T.O. who was originally from L.A. We hung out a lot in 2007, and went to a lot of movies and went on a lot of ROM walks on Sundays. We didn't really see too much of each other when he started dating, but he was a good friend. I am looking forward to the mix CDs that he is reportedly working on and will send me.

J.P. Casino -- This guy helped me out a lot when we both got laid off from Critical Mass at the same time, by providing me a list of contacts that I should hit up. I wish I hung out more with him. He's a really cool guy. Glad to hear that he's been super successful at his new job.

Jennifer Vetterli -- Probably my favourite person I follow on Twitter as she's unafraid to tweet about all of the frustrating things that happen in her life, without fear of judgment from others. She's super-smart and does an excellent job as an Information Architect (now, Senior IA, I'm told). Always a good person to talk to in the office, and she has a helluva good taste in music. I, too, wish I hung out with her a little more often.

John McArdle -- We would sometimes take time off lunch at CM to go vinyl shopping at Rotate This! Ah, those were the days. He, too, has an incredible taste in music -- he introduced me to F***ked Up and Oneida -- and he is an incredible photographer to boot. Just as I'm typing this, he tweeted me, in fact, to thank me for complimenting him on some of his photos, which he posted to Flickr earlier today. I, too, really wish I had hung out with him more often. We were supposed to meet up at a No Age show at The Horseshoe Tavern in 2008, but that never transpired, alas. We were, though, both at the same show! I guess we just got our wires crossed or something, or maybe I got there too early to find him as I took a plum spot at the front of the stage/mosh-pit. I forget.

Tyler Lockyer -- He was the go-to-guy for all of the social events in the CM office, who, alas, got laid off on the same day as I did. I should probably thank him for the trip to the casino in Niagara Falls, as I won $600 as a result of that office social outing. The last I saw of him was the day after the lay-off earlier this year, as we met up for coffee at the neighbourhood Starbucks. He was going on a trip to Cuba during the upcoming days, as I can recall. Was never really super-close with him, probably because he was a bit younger, but I should have hung out more with him. (I sense a recurring theme here.)

There are probably other people that I miss, and there's always of course Matt Milan (but that's another blog post), but I think those are the major ones. I really should have gotten out more in Toronto, and realize that there were so many people around me that I could have been a bit more social with. I guess I found making new friends to be a bit awkward for me. Maybe I just enjoyed the company of my vinyl collection at home a bit too much. But there are loads of good people that I left behind and I'm glad to have known them. I, of course, have great friends in Ottawa, which I am thankful for.

UPDATED TO ADD: How could I forgotten about Patricia Storms, the writer of children's books and author of Booklust? We knew each other before I went to Toronto -- I commissioned her to do the artwork for a book of poetry that never saw the light of day -- but we met up a few times when I moved to T.O. She was always funny, and great to talk to. She even tried to help me line up a job when I found myself unemployed. I hear that she's been very successful with her new book, The Pirate and The Penguin, and hope that she's doing alright. (She hasn't updated her blog in a month.)

Also, David Mills, another IA at Critical Mass. We talked a lot about books when I was working there, as his wife runs a bookstore, and he even Secret Santa'ed me a vinyl copy of the Grateful Dead's Workingman's Dead album. (I knew it was from him as he was really the only Deadhead in the office.) We didn't hang out after work as he was a family man with kids, but he was a really cool guy and I miss him greatly.