personal injury at track level

the human brain can only take so much of an extreme before it appears to suffer a melt-down and the brain just snaps. today in toronto is mercifully cool. yesterday i even thought i might need a sweater as i walked outdoors in the afternoon. i am so happy to be able to snuggle into my duvet again at night - instead of flopping on the top of the sheets like some shot of a victim at a sordid murder scene.

but this summer we've been dealing with much higher than normal temperatures, many more humidex alerts and SO SO SO many pollution/smog alert days (ontario blames the industry of the midwest/detriot/america & america blames us for our emissions... talk about uneasy neighbours). and the heat has gotten to folk here. on monday there were a series of murders, shootings and attacks in toronto. most (if not all of them) had the police saying, "the victim was known to police" - which is, of course, code for 'gang related activity'. the problem is that there are some very strong and very powerful gangs in the area and while they generally keep the killings among themselves - sometimes innocent bystanders get caught in the middle. and these gangs have witnesses so scared to come forward to the police - the result being that these thugs stay out on the streets to work their own justice in their own little ways. it's almost as though they are above the law. they have their own world that the police have a hard time touching. it's a real problem.

and in the heat of summer there are delays on the subway due to the sad message : "there is a delay at the *insert name* station due to a personal injury at track level. emergency crews are on site and we apologize for the delay". so many people decide to kill themselves via speeding subway train.

and it's not just confined to heat. i remember one december several years ago where nearly twice a week there were delays of that sort. and you know it's a jumper because then for the rest of the day the trains slow down and brake several times as they enter a station. it's a strange energy indeed.

so - now that the heat has subsided a little - maybe my crazed little city can calm down and take a collective breath and people can stop killing each other and jumping in front of subway trains. we can get back to just ignoring one another.

on a completely different note - i am going away to a family wedding this august. going to saskatoon of all freaking places. and that's fine. but the thing that really sucks is that i'm going to miss a toronto david usher date. it's a free show for contest winners and some kind soul actually offered me a ticket. but i can't go. grrrrrrr. oh well. there better be plenty of red wine at my table!

and i am so giddily addicted to rock star : inxs. it's true. i am able to admit i get excited each week for the show. it has everything : music, bad outfits, outta control ego, dave navarro leering at all the girls and inxs songs.

i am very happy with the removal of heather and daphna. they both sucked in so many ways. and heather seemed pissed off at the band. i think they might of kept her around if she wasn't so bitchy to them. wrong sort of attitude, lamb.

and is it just me - or is mig getting better and better? and marty? seriously? to me, he's boring and bland and safe and seems terribly unoriginal. but maybe, just maybe that's what inxs want. they know they'll never get another michael - so now they just want something watered down and boringly-friendly.

[music | nine inch nails, "only"]