A Strange Reflection

I headed to the West end to visit a 93-year-old relative on Saturday. It was an adventure by transit because the LRT did not run all the way downtown from the East End this week-end and there were also bus detours throughout the city core due to the demonstrations for "freedom". It wasn't just out-of-town people occupying Ottawa though. On the way I saw entire families with kids in tow, parking their cars at Gloucester Centre and St. Laurent Mall, to take the train and wave their signs, flags, and jerry cans. So I felt some satisfaction that they will be inconvenienced.

We had a nice lunch of stir-fried shrimp and veggies. As usual, they told me stories (though some of them were repeats) of their childhood in the old country. Afterward, I received a big bag of food to take with me. Instead of taking the zig-zagging bus I decided to take the train to the Ottawa University stop and walked about 15 minutes to get to my connection home.

I haven't been on campus in decades. With limited acreage on which to grow, the university has sprouted new buildings everywhere. When I got to King Edward and Laurier, I took a right turn on it to see if a certain building was still around. The walk-up still existed though it was now owned by a property management company. My crush lived there during our collegiate days so for every happy hour I spent inside, sadness greeted me when I left. I had a "twilight zone" thought as I passed by yesterday.

Ever since my family moved to Ottawa, I have lived in a series of rentals. So the closest to a childhood home was a modest town-house condominium in former Gloucester. I have joked with relatives that I will buy it to retire in my old age. We all agreed that such a decision would be rather odd.

So if I move into that exact apartment on Laurier, we would be in Stephen King territory. On the surface, it was ideal. It was close to several streets with amenities like the Bytowne Cinema. There were now stores on that block. Finally, I do love small buildings in an urban setting. But even for someone with aphantasia, living there would stir up too many memories.

I Know King Food

In previous years, Groundhog Day was a day for nostalgia. There was no such dinner plans in 2021 but there were "I've seen this script before" situations. First, my company had an all-hands meeting. Various C-level execs were promising yet again bright futures despite a rough period including 50% with-held salary in 2019 (finally paid the next year), a 4-day work-week (i.e., 20% paycut) in 2020 and 2021 (though I was one of the few that went back to 5 days in 2021), and a mass exodus of people. I noticed that no mention was made of the revolving door of execs. Last year, there was a continuation of breathless announcements when new execs came in with "laudatory" experiences and big goals, only for them to quietly leave a few months later amid company silence. For me, it was the departure of yet another long-time colleague just before Christmas that was a downer.

To clear my head, I went to see an afternoon matinee since movie theatres had re-opened on Monday. Appropriately enough, it was Matrix Resurrections, a film steeped in nostalgia and callbacks, many of which was acknowledged within the movie itself in numerous meta ways. This has been a box-office bomb because probably audiences wanted more whiz-bang fight scenes and CGI. I actually enjoyed everything but the derivative and muddled fighting and the post-apocalyptic scenes. I wished they had leaned more into all the "talky" bits inside The Matrix and made it a straight-up drama. It would be even more box-office poison but at least this would be chutzpah.

Afterward, I remembered from my lunch at the restaurant La Bonita nearby that its next-door neighbour was a Chinese take-out joint called Lucky King. I stopped by and ordered for dinner some Szechuan Spicy Beef ($16.20) and Shrimp with Mixed Vegetables ($16.80). Lucky King may not look like much, and honestly its food was what you'd expect from these places, but it did brisk business. During my 20-minute wait, close to 10 customers came for their orders. Toronto don't have these once ubiquitous eateries anymore, but I suppose Ottawa is always behind Toronto in all aspects, even gentrification.