more sakura, feist, shoe shopping, and argentina!

i only checked my email twice yesterday! it was SO nice having a day off-- here is how it goes: masa needs a new pair of shoes, so we went down to the underground city and looked at several shops (he is SO picky about clothes). he tried on about 6 pairs and didn't want any (he also tried on three pairs of shorts and about four shirts). he ended up buying nothing. i, on the other hand, bought a pair of shoes and two new shirts. aaugh!

feist's new album is GREAT. man, every song is a home run. her last album was excellent, too, but this one just "feels" so strong, like she is at the top of her game. you know it's amazing to me how CD companies are complaining that no one buys CDs anymore. so i was looking at feist's album on CD the other day in a shop--$18.99 (plus 15% tax in this bloody country)!! or, let me see, i could buy it at iTunes for $9.90. mmmm, since i only listen to music on my computer or iPod, why would i spend more than twice as much for the same music? idiots.

the reminder

feist

ok, so looking like buenos aires is where it's at. thinking we'll go there in september and stay two months, come back here, though, and keep our place, etc. we should keep our feet planted in canada, at least for the time being. rome is amazing, but too expensive (don't wanna pay $3000 a month for a tiny place); istanbul feels not quite right this time around; argentina isn't too pricey and what an amazing city. so, leaning towards that. price is right and though money is good lately, i have to save a chunk of it so i'd rather watch it more closely. nothing definite yet, but seriously thinking about buying the tickets because air canada is running a special.

and, despite the expense of the above, starting to get serious about saving for a downpayment on a place. i have some saved, but thinking of actually working towards a goal. after talking with crystal the other night and hearing about how expensive places to buy in boston are, feeling that we should take advantage of the fact that montreal is fairly reasonable still. buying a place doesn't mean we have to stay here, but a "base" sure would be nice since i'm out flim-flamming around the world so often! a place to hang my hat would do me nicely...

what a beautiful day today! if it were a touch warmer, we'd spend all afternoon in the park, but not quite there yet.

and keep getting these emails full of sakura from my peeps in tokyo. they must be long gone by now (they only bloom for like 10 days tops), but the photos sure are beeeaauteeful.