Things I'm Looking Forward to This Summer

• Walking. Everywhere.
• Wearing short sleeves to nonchalantly show off my badass scar.
• Actually going to the beach this year, wherever it is.
• The weekends when College or Bloor Streets are closed for street festivals.
• Walking through those festivals in the middle of the road. Underrated feeling, walking down the middle of a normally ultra-busy street.
• Toronto Island excursions.
• Park sitting.
• Patios patios patios.
• The Hold Steady. Exploding Hearts. Nikki & the Corvettes. My summer rap playlist. Summer music in general, really.

• Buying a barbecue.
• Learning how to use a barbecue.
• Drinking beers on our balcony on sunny afternoons.
• Drinking beers on our balcony while barbecuing on sunny afternoons.
• Having an iPod dock for our balcony this year.
  
• Throwing a house party or two where people will be crammed out on our balcony instead of crammed in our living room and kitchen.
• The outside possibility that our long-imagined hot dog eating contest could actually happen.
  
• Sangria.
• Girls in summer dresses.

• Going to as many Blue Jays games as I want, via my Toronto Star Season Pass. This could be as many as 80 but will probably be more like 15.
• Watching any baseball game I want to all summer, via my $20 MLB.TV subscription.
• Ben moving to Toronto so we can waste way too much time watching and talking baseball. I mean that's not WHY he's moving here -- just a fortunate side effect.
  
• Finding out where Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh will sign.
• Playing recreational and pick-up sports outdoors, health permitting.
• The two-hour LOST series finale on May 23.
• The Party Down premiere on April 23, and its subsequent season.
• The rest of season 3 of Breaking Bad.
• Plowing through the remaining 3.5 seasons of The Sopranos that I've yet to watch.
  

• Attempting to swim in the public pool at Dundas & Bathurst on warm nights, after being at a bar or show.
• Remembering not to jump into that pool with my jeans still on this year.
• Road-tripping to Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival.
• Not having to sleep upright in a leather chair every night while in Chicago this year.
• Wearing shorts. I don't care if shorts are lame.
• Having every window in the house open and still being hot.
• Hearing that damned ice cream truck announce its presence all over the neighbourhood.
  
• EATING FREEZIES!!
• Countless other small pleasures that I'm almost certainly forgetting.