My 'Main' Reason to be Joyful

As perhaps you are aware, this is a blog about life. Sometimes life really sucks. I don’t think anyone wants to argue that. Sometimes life is pretty damn beautiful as well. On Monday life sucked for me- I was sick, swamped with school, and feelin’ unloved. Today life was beautiful. Sometimes we win; sometimes we lose.

So why was life so enjoyable today?

I live in one of the most precious little neighborhoods in Canada, and today it was evident as to why. Spring has officially arrived on the ‘Main’ (Boulevard St.Laurent), and the sleepy-eyed Plateau residents immerged from their spiral-stair-cased walk-up apartments. The old Portuguese women, the stumbling drunkards, the punky hipsters, and the Guppies (Gay Urban Professionals) coexisting on a frenzied stretch of asphalt.


My day consisted of a couple of key stops along the ‘Main’. It started with groceries at a little store called ‘Segal’s’, or as my friend Sam calls it, ‘Three Isles of Chaos’. It is cheap and unpretentious. The Segal’s experiences is like leaving reality, and entering a live theatrical performance where the characters are completely obnoxious, and the central conflict revolves around healthy, low-cost, organic yogurt versus over-ripe, chemical-grown, moldy tomatoes. The theme is making it out alive.

I then proceeded to my new favourite clothing store: BLANK. This store is the new American Apparel; sweatshop-free cotton basics made in Quebec, but without the pornographic advertisement approach to publicity. I bought a t-shirt for my sister’s boyfriend, with intentions to return and drop a whole lotta loan money.

Next stop was a hair-cut at the trendy ‘Coupe Bizarre’, a pink walled, pretentious hipster hair salon. Now that the student loan has arrived (and I didn’t even have to throw a tantrum), I thought I’d treat myself to an out-of-my-price-range, asymmetrical ‘----do’. My bald Philippine-Canadian stylist was, by some cosmic coincidence, named ‘Danny’. As he cut my hair, he showed me examples of some of the photography that he is doing; it revolves around the exploration of men who play with Barbie dolls. I am so frickin’ happy that people like this exist. Rock on Danny.


That brings us to now. I’ve installed myself at my favourite little café on the main, a place that will remain unnamed (I’m sort of possessive about the space). However, I can tell you that it is a mélange of many things: a library, a café, an art gallery, and a funeral home. Last time I was here, I could hear the cries of grief coming from downstairs as someone said their final goodbyes and a casket was closed. Sometimes life is beautiful; sometimes life is over.

So life was enjoyable today, which is pretty amazing considering the countless things that could make life not enjoyable. Today I am counting my blessings: my neighborhood, the fact that I get to have a haircut, the feeling of purpose in my life. Tomorrow may be less lovely, but hey, this is what life is all about. Sometimes we win, and sometimes we get our ass kicked by moldy tomatoes.