'Once Upon a Time in Canada' Chapter 22.

I got a couple of minutes to meet one of my idols, and then it was over. But it’s not the worst thing. I’ve had my time for that day. I must be one of the luckiest people in the world to be in the situation right now; it’s a kind of a miracle as a matter of fact. In my free time, I just get by; go around places, go to the cinema, do groceries, all that jazz.

On one of my days I hung out with good friend Ishkhan and his gang for one whole adventurous night during Nuit Blanche. For those of you who don’t know what it is, Nuit Blnache (or White Night) is an annual all-night or night time arts festival. A Nuit Blanche will typically have museums and/or private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the city itself being turned into a de facto art gallery, providing space for art installations, performances (music, film, dance, performance art), themed gatherings, and other activities.

For Toronto, it was exactly that. The entire downtown area was transformed into one gigantic art gallery with multiple exhibitions scattered everywhere from one end of the city to the other. And when I say exhibitions, I mean all kinds, ranging from high art to the down right bizarre. And, yes, of course there was entertainment. There was music booming through the air, there were films of all lengths and kinds playing in almost half of the exhibitions, dancers roaming through the streets performing everything from ballet to hip pop, with performance art occupying the same space as them. And everything about it was… amazing. The highlight was the Red Forest exhibition, the last one. It was a Netflix-inspired exhibition that took inspirations from Stranger Things (mostly), and the upcoming movie Bright. For this one, we had to wear special costumes, containment suits (like the ones in Stranger Things), to in order to explore the Upside Down world of the show. The entire piece itself was eerily beautiful and hypnotising, and much more colourful than the world in the show. They did a terrific job of capturing the essence of the show.

So far, I’m having as much fun as I can despite my current predicament. It’s not perfect. But then again, nothing is, and I’m making the most of it while I can.

Also, see Chapters 21 and 23.