
Toronto is the best city in the world when it’s warm out
The summers here are marvelous. Torontonians walk or cycle everywhere, flock to outdoor swimming pools and street festivals, and lounge in parks and on patios. Once a week I made the hour-long walk home from work in order to stop and eat many delicious Trinidadian doubles (a curried chickpea street food) served from a shipping crate.
Using vacation days to take Fridays off
I took off many Fridays from work, which turns out is an excellent use of vacation days, in order to spend more time outside. I used evenings and weekends in July and early August to plow through five weeks of basic physics and finance schoolwork in preparation for an online certificate program I started in mid-August.
Summer is peak me
In August I truly felt I was “living my best life” (as reality TV folks say) when I visited friends in Philly, spent a few days in New Haven, and closed out my trip with friends in Boston.

Work outside and get all that sun
Doing my schoolwork outside in my backyard, in the sun, was a pleasure. And I’m quite pleased with the tan I was able to get. If only my 9-to-5 let me, you know, use a laptop and not be tethered to a fluorescent-lit desk in an office tower all year round. Luckily from November 30 this year, I’m a free bird till next June.