How Is Your Life Different Now Than When You Joined SSP?

[O-tacular]

A conversation in another thread discussing a meetup from the Golden Age of SSP in '05-'06 got me thinking about how different all those forumers' lives and situations are today than they were back then. The Calgary subforum used to have regular meetups as well and it makes me sad that that community is now pretty much gone.

I joined in '08 after a year or two of lurking. I was just graduating college. Here I am now with a young family wondering how the hell I used to have time to go meet people from a forum!

So, how much has your life changed since you first joined?

[Kilgore Trout]

I was in high school when I joined SSP. Now I'm nearing middle age.

:eeekk:

[MolsonExport]

Then (first joined in 1999, under a different username):Bachelor, bachelor pad, grad school, ~30 years of age
Now: working like a dog in Academe, 2 kids +wife + cat, mortgage/house, aged 53

[thebasketballgeek]

First joined as a middle-schooler and now am finishing my final year in my Bachelors. Still iffy on doing a masters, but I will say for sure that this forum had a huge impact in shaping my life path.

[O-tacular]

First joined as a middle-schooler and now am finishing my final year in my Bachelors. Still iffy on doing a masters, but I will say for sure that this forum had a huge impact in shaping my life path.

You must be one of the youngest on this forum. It had a large effect shaping me as well in those formative years. Ideals smashed into reality though and now I live in suburbia with 2 kids.

In hindsight some initiatives I supported in college have since lost their luster. For instance in Calgary our council has reduced lot sizes in Greenfield development to the point that there are zero lot line communities cropping up now. Sounds great in theory but leads to depressing streets like this with zero backyards or space to plant trees:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8667939,-113.9558965,3a,75y,286.61h,88.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sT4qBgv3a-xaD2vXwAyw-GQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8706718,-113.9642065,3a,75y,94.03h,91.99t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sA36OWTUrtOM3GLl6uHbQ2g!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DA36OWTUrtOM3GLl6uHbQ2g%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D111.76239%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

It's also done nothing to help affordability.

[harls]

Is this thread directed at me? :D

[O-tacular]

Is this thread directed at me? :D

Actually your anecdote about meeting Molson and some other forumers in '05 did inspire this thread. I was imagining both of you much younger as bachelors and it kinda blew my mind to imagine how different your lives are today.

[SignalHillHiker]

Wow... unnerving to reflect upon that question.

I'd lurked SSP for maybe a year or two before joining. The impetus for me was living in Winnipeg and they chose bus rapid transit instead of light rail and it infuriated me because I love trams and anything approximating trams. I had just ended the longest relationship of my life, with a gorgeous Mennonite man. Our parents loved each other, he'd visited Newfoundland with me. But I was depressed, miserable. And a very, very, very angry drunk - to the point his friends we stayed with in Bermuda were worried about him, told him I wasn't welcome to stay with them again (I don't even remember the night I apparently yelled at him, called him an asshole, etc.). It was that bad, I was a mess and he put up with SO much. I submitted an application long before it became normal to work virtually with my Winnipeg-based employer, from St. John's. And they agreed. They fired me and all their virtual employees like a year later but, still, changed my life. I'm eternally grateful. I moved back home on Discovery Day (June 24) 2012 and joined SSP shortly after. Being home, taking pictures, I felt I finally had something to contribute :haha:

Since then... the handful of locals I met through SSP have almost replaced the friends I had prior to moving away in 1999 (I was back from 2003-05 for college). One in particular is one of my two closest friends. I was a groomsman in his wedding, we run together four nights a week, we hang out most weekends, play Catan, go to the drag lounge, whatever. Only non-SSP friend who is still that intensely in my daily life is my hiking GF. And special mention to Calgary's Ayreonaut, who was my no-plans friend before he moved back home. Even if there was nothing happening, it's him I'd be hanging out with, just watching TV or going for a beer at the local, or whatever. It's been heaven, and I have SSP to thank for that lifelong friendship. When I first joined I had only been home a month and hadn't really healed yet so I was still a miserable, angry c***. It took about six months or so to start to feel normal again. :D I bought my first house (Denscity was the first person other than me inside it, he happened to be here when I bought it), and am now in my second, and I've never loved another house more. I changed careers twice since I joined, each time with a significant increase in (if not class, at least) income. I had to put down one of the two cats I brought home with me from Winnipeg a year or two ago (liver disease). The other is still going strong, still looks and acts young. Lots of changes. From the darkest point in my life to the brightest. :D

[harls]

Actually your anecdote about meeting Molson and some other forumers in '05 did inspire this thread. I was imagining both of you much younger as bachelors and it kinda blew my mind to imagine how different your lives are today.

It was a good time. You should have been there.

[O-tacular]

It was a good time. You should have been there.

I wish I could have. I seem to recall photos from one such meeting with a guy (not sure which forumer it was) sticking his tongue out and drinking beer. I used to attend the SSP Calgary meetups. It was probably one of the larger groups that would meet in person in those days.

[O-tacular]

Wow... unnerving to reflect upon that question.

I'd lurked SSP for maybe a year or two before joining. The impetus for me was living in Winnipeg and they chose bus rapid transit instead of light rail and it infuriated me because I love trams and anything approximating trams. I had just ended the longest relationship of my life, with a gorgeous Mennonite man. Our parents loved each other, he'd visited Newfoundland with me. But I was depressed, miserable. And a very, very, very angry drunk - to the point his friends we stayed with in Bermuda were worried about him, told him I wasn't welcome to stay with them again (I don't even remember the night I apparently yelled at him, called him an asshole, etc.). It was that bad, I was a mess and he put up with SO much. I submitted an application long before it became normal to work virtually with my Winnipeg-based employer, from St. John's. And they agreed. They fired me and all their virtual employees like a year later but, still, changed my life. I'm eternally grateful. I moved back home on Discovery Day (June 24) 2012 and joined SSP shortly after. Being home, taking pictures, I felt I finally had something to contribute :haha:

Since then... the handful of locals I met through SSP have almost replaced the friends I had prior to moving away in 1999 (I was back from 2003-05 for college). One in particular is one of my two closest friends. I was a groomsman in his wedding, we run together four nights a week, we hang out most weekends, play Catan, go to the drag lounge, whatever. Only non-SSP friend who is still that intensely in my daily life is my hiking GF. And special mention to Calgary's Ayreonaut, who was my no-plans friend before he moved back home. Even if there was nothing happening, it's him I'd be hanging out with, just watching TV or going for a beer at the local, or whatever. It's been heaven, and I have SSP to thank for that lifelong friendship. When I first joined I had only been home a month and hadn't really healed yet so I was still a miserable, angry c***. It took about six months or so to start to feel normal again. :D I bought my first house (Denscity was the first person other than me inside it, he happened to be here when I bought it), and am now in my second, and I've never loved another house more. I changed careers twice since I joined, each time with a significant increase in (if not class, at least) income. I had to put down one of the two cats I brought home with me from Winnipeg a year or two ago (liver disease). The other is still going strong, still looks and acts young. Lots of changes. From the darkest point in my life to the brightest. :D

Wow. Quite a journey. Personal growth has been a large part of my life as well since joining (#MeToo thread). Happy to hear you turned things around so dramatically. I will add that I made quite a few Facebook friends around the country (including yourself) after joining this site. Even though we've never met irl I feel like I know you. I enjoy your house reno updates.

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

I'm probably younger or similar age to thebasketballgeek, although I joined this forum in high school. I had been lurking for a year prior, in a grade 9 class...dreaming of moving back to my old neighbourhood.
Being away from Toronto put me in a bad place mentally for years.
I was stuck living with my dad in Mississauga due to my family situation, and since then I've graduated, moved out back to Toronto (and my old neighbourhood), and had taken schooling until just prior to the pandemic beginning.
I've been working full or nearly full time since, and am going back to school next year. I originally came to this forum off a whim, I was bored in my technology class and was curious about something...I guess I looked up a building in my neighbourhood and from there, found out about construction projects going up.

I became more interested, and at some point signed up for an account here, and have updated threads since I started. It's strange thinking back to the first photo updates I made for this site...I was 15 and re-discovering my neighbourhood. I've been wondering if I'll ever meet anyone from this site, but maybe some day.

[MonkeyRonin]

I was 15 when I joined this forum. Jeez, I've now spent over half my life on here. SSP has just become one of those weirdly comforting, unchanging constants in life I guess. :happysad:

[Gresto]

It hasn't changed a whit, which is something I'm working on with as much fervour as I can muster.

[Coldrsx]

Joined on a whim in 03' while in Vancouver working for a marketing company, for friend back in Edmonton told me that it was a good way to keep track of things 'while away'.

Ended up getting into the world/field of development in 04, which led to a role at an architecture firm for 9yrs.

Currently working for a development advocacy group.

Apparently I post a lot, A LOT A LOT, for I am #1 on SSP in individual posts. #whoops

Once I hit 70,000, er 100,000, I promised everyone close to me that I would quit this habit.

[harls]

Holy shit Coldrsx, you really do have a lot of posts. I thought I was crazy..

[harls]

One guy I miss having around is circle33. I met him in person at a Toronto mining show. Wonder if he still lurks here..

[Mininari]

I joined when I was an urban planning student in first-year university, very passionate about skyscrapers (and extremely frustrated with the viewcones and height limits in downtown Vancouver)

Three degrees later, I'm a Metocean Renewables Consulting Scientist, still watching the Vancouver Skyline evolve, amidst some *very* subtle softening of the height restrictions and view cones, giving us a crop of 500-700' buildings... I look forward to bringing my 3 boys to 'the big city' for their first NHL game soon!

[Architype]

One guy I miss having around is circle33. I met him in person at a Toronto mining show. Wonder if he still lurks here..

He posts sometimes in Saskatoon Construction, actually Sept 17.

It's been 18 years, so many changes happen in regard to age. I started by doing diagram drawings, something I found enjoyable and interesting. I don't have the time & energy I used to, to do things like photo threads, I don't spend as much time outside Vancouver as I used to, partly due to my work schedule, minor health problems, and the reluctance to be as explorative and travel as much. I actually have more money now, but I do less with it. Over these years my life has changed due to things that come with age, like losing friends (prematurely), parents, & my s/o. The great thing about SSP is the continuity, a place to find some engagement with informed people (usually :rolleyes:) on topics of interest as varied as buildings, statistics, city planning, politics, world events, (what is the world coming to? :eek:) as well as entertaining things like cars, music, and even food. We can make it about whatever we want to for that matter. I haven't met many people here in person with the exception of NL, but that might be nice too.

[biguc]

I was like 16 when I joined. I'd lurked for maybe a year before and fucking loved the diagrams. Caught a lot of shit at school for poring over those little charts of skyscrapers. That indicates one difference from my now-married life: I was a virgin. Looking back, the whole world was painted in the broad brushstrokes of a similar innocence--we didn't even have the word incel yet. It would have accurately described me.

That was a good time in my life to join this board. I learned that if I expressed myself well and addressed people with respect, they would respond in kind. Even if they were older and smarter than me.

Most of my life since saw me chained to Winnipeg by misguided loyalty, sick with in situ Stockholm syndrome, bouncing between wasting my life on this board and quitting for years at a time. I came back to lurking when I moved away--like Coldrsx says, it was a good way to keep up. I think I've finally dialed in an acceptable balance between actively posting, lurking, and logging out in disgust. :haha:

I actually owe a lot to this board. Since moving to Berlin, people have been paying me for work I actually like doing--work that puts to use what they mistake for talent. Really, it's just the product of countless hours spent here in my formative years, deliberately getting better at something.

One guy I miss having around is circle33. I met him in person at a Toronto mining show. Wonder if he still lurks here..

Yeah he was a nice dude. And whatever happened to Andy6? I took a photo walk around Winnipeg's Exchange with him way back in the day.

Remember Pootkau?

[Architype]

I was like 16 when I joined....

When I saw 16, I thought, god that's young, but at least now you are mid 30s. I think I've read a lot of your posts and you seem very intelligent, well informed etc., probably smarter than me, regardless of age. The more smart, informed & pleasantly reasonable people we have here is what makes it worth being a part of.

And I finally realized that Pinkoland is Germany. LOL. ;)

[niwell]

Oh man this is making me feel both nostalgic and older than I normally do.

I started lurking in 2001 during my first year in University, but didn't join for a few more years. Found the site from the diagrams originally. Not sure what prompted me to start posting but could have been that some of the sites I previously frequented had more or less disappeared / my interests changed. At that time I was living in Ottawa and realizing I didn't particularly care for studying engineering or like most engineering students, was in my first long-term relationship and starting to look at options for doing a Master's in planning.

Fast forward almost two decades and I live in Toronto with a permanent career (the pension golden handcuffs), have been married for 3 years with no kids so far but a very large dog that takes up hours of every day. We just bought a house outside the city for use as a secondary residence. Had the chance to travel to a bunch of places and live abroad. Still passionate about urban planning but am a lot more pessimistic realistic about outcomes that can be achieved in Canadian cities. This board definitely helped out with a few life decisions and general insight - including what *not* to do sometimes!

Life is pretty good, really.




That was a good time in my life to join this board. I learned that if I expressed myself well and addressed people with respect, they would respond in kind. Even if they were older and smarter than me.
.
.
.

I think I've finally dialed in an acceptable balance between actively posting, lurking, and logging out in disgust. :haha:



Both very astute! While I didn't join SSP till I was a bit older, this style of online forum was generally much more accepting and able to guide younger posters than others. Had the same experience on different ones while I was in high school. Always wondered if there will be a bit of a return to forums (though they never really left) than other forms of online discourse.

I've tried to maintain the same attitude about posting these days. Also with the nostalgia posts going around makes me realize I should have sent a PM as I was just in Berlin for a week including 4 days to myself - though I certainly found enough things to do to pass the time. And enough beer.

[kool maudit]

I think the first time I joined was when I was living in St-Henri in 1999, although this account is probably a few years younger. I didn't really know what I was doing with myself back then, although cities and their aesthetics had a very powerful hold on me. The St-Henri of the late '90s was still a real relic of a place, all abandoned industrial giants and passing trains. Those were ghost years, years spent just taking in scenes, and then came the "Montreal might eat its young (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8PZ8-cpWc4)" Mile-End phase after an abortive London period. What can you say? It was both a wild and a somewhat limited place and way to be young and then not-so-young.

And now, following a Balkan coda, I am a bourgeois in Scandinavia. It all feels so long and yet so short looking back. Funny to think I have been here for all of it.

[lio45]

I joined this forum because I had a portfolio of mixed use buildings in the heart of my hometown's downtown, and wanted to discuss urban affairs in that city with other interested people (there was an active SSP discussion thread at the time).

Over 15 years later... what's "changed" is that I have a lot more buildings (and the main thing that's "new" is that they're not all in the same city anymore, though still very concentrated).

Very little has changed, actually. Not sure if that's good or bad lol

[lio45]

... but am a lot more pessimistic realistic about outcomes that can be achieved in Canadian cities.Same here.

[Acajack]

My story is completely boring compared to others.

I see I joined in August 2006. I would have been in my mid to late 30s then.

I never lurked on here. Can't remember what the topic was but I think it may have been related to suburbia. Saw something I wanted to comment on, joined and posted right away. I believe I may have responded to long-gone Habsfan33(?). Not the same poster as Habfanman.

Today, I have the same house, same type of job pretty much, same wife, same kids (they were already born back then).

I've never met any SSPer in person though I've come close a few times. I have "private message relationships" with a very small number of SSPers, but even those exchanges are sporadic.

My views on cities have been enriched by my years on SSP, and my visions of Canada and the world have also been greatly influenced by it too.

[kool maudit]

Same here.

One of the things that hanging out here for so long has demonstrated is that the lives of cities are much longer than those of men, and so they change much more slowly. The obverse being that in many ways they are what they are, even the very dynamic ones.

Something you used to see a lot of here was the guy who would sign up from someplace, usually a high-growth area, and he would be full of news about the proposed towers, the redevelopment plans and the architectural renderings. The promise was always that in just a few years time, his hometown would be something altogether different, just an entirely different tier of beast.

And this can happen, in some cases, but it takes decades, and while your city moves, all the others do too.

The extreme versions of this were usually regarded as such on here, but the general dynamic of SSP favours at least a subtler form of it. When I moved to Montreal, for instance, I was blown away at how much the city resembled the metropolitan archetype I had in my mind. Given the lag time involved in the formation of such aesthetics, that probably meant it was a very powerful kind of mid-20th century vision.

But there were problems. There were views that seemed incomplete and elements that were jarring and did not fit with the archetype. And so, rendering by rendering, plan by plan, there was a sense in which I came to see Montreal as incomplete but drawing nearer. My enthusiasm for the new projects, which were pretty thin on the ground back then, was part of a desire to join the living city to the internal vision.

Someone123 had a great post years ago on this. It was a throwaway, and I am not even sure he'd remember it, but out of frustration with some City Discussions thread in which some city was being dismissed for its lack of tenement rows and deco Goliaths, he asked "are we sure we are not just cargo-culting New York here?"

I am not sure I wasn't just cargo-culting New York. There is probably a narrative in which I should have been in New York, and that constructs like "my metropolitan archetype" were just reheated images of Manhattan.

Kilgore Trout and I, for instance, are two of this forum's longtime Montreal adopters, or converts. But he is there and I am not, and I think looking back that he always had a more thoughtful and more realistic affection for the city as it was. I am not saying it's binary, or that I had no appreciation for Montreal beyond a hazy, post-industrial city blur. I lived there for 16 years and I loved the place. But cities are what they are, and I had part of one foot, at least, in "what might be, what could have been and Manhattan."

You lose this over time. Stockholm is only Stockholm. I can smile to myself on Valhallavägen at how close it looks (on those few blocks) to the European version of the metropolitan vision, that slice of imperial Vienna, but Stockholm is Stockholm.

If I wanted New York I would have to try and get there. And if I wanted some hazy collage of images associated with either New York or Vienna in some past colourful period, there are coffee table books.

[hipster duck]

I only joined in 2014, so my life is quite different but not profoundly different from you guys who joined as teenagers more than twenty years ago and are now entering middle age.

I used to be a prolific poster on urbantoronto, but switched to here after I had lived away from Toronto for some years and when I realized that that forum was becoming more like a one-way information feed from development and planning insiders to an audience of outsiders where armchair commentary and debates weren't encouraged. So now it's the other way around: I post here and lurk there.

I've always loved cities. One of the greatest things about living in Canada is watching our cities grow. I think that's why urban development has been something I've followed closely for years. If I lived in a country like Spain, where urban living has always been the default, all cities are awesome, and there isn't much change, I probably wouldn't give a shit. At a time when there's a lot to be pessimistic about, the trajectory of our cities is a welcome respite from that.

[WhipperSnapper]

I think it started out being bored at work and after some searches I found the Hot 500 List. That led my to Skyscrapers.com. The bulletin board there led me to SSP and SSP led to the rest. World Skyscrapers ran faster so I posted there until 2002

I went to an early urbantoronto meet. That was the first and last time. I did not go to the WorldSkyscrapers/ SSC global meet in Toronto. I did attend Doors Open that year and saw myself in several photos posted on that site.

I was engaged, broke and, hated the 9 to 5 grind in a neck noose. I'm divorced, not broke and every morning look at the tie rack and say not today.

[ScreamingViking]

Food tastes better. The air seems fresher. I have more energy and self confidence than I ever dreamed of. :D
https://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheShowerhead.htm


Things are very different. In 2013 I was single, early 40s, 7 years removed from a marriage and living in an apartment near the waterfront in Burlington. Work dominated my life and I used smaller distractions to maintain some balance, including this site.

Today I'm still working but a married homeowner again, back in my hometown, helping take care of two university-age kids and three cats. I have travelled abroad. Retirement is still far away but closer than I want to think. Life balance has changed completely, but this site is still an interesting distraction.

[biguc]

When I saw 16, I thought, god that's young, but at least now you are mid 30s. I think I've read a lot of your posts and you seem very intelligent, well informed etc., probably smarter than me, regardless of age. The more smart, informed & pleasantly reasonable people we have here is what makes it worth being a part of.



That's very kind of you to say. And I couldn't agree more. Forums like this are relics of early internet utopia--we're looking back at where that wave crested. No media since have been able to foster community and conversation like we enjoy here. I'm glad to be a part of it, grateful for its existence, and appreciate all of you who make this board what it is.





Both very astute! While I didn't join SSP till I was a bit older, this style of online forum was generally much more accepting and able to guide younger posters than others. Had the same experience on different ones while I was in high school. Always wondered if there will be a bit of a return to forums (though they never really left) than other forms of online discourse.

I've tried to maintain the same attitude about posting these days. Also with the nostalgia posts going around makes me realize I should have sent a PM as I was just in Berlin for a week including 4 days to myself - though I certainly found enough things to do to pass the time. And enough beer.

I have dreams about social media crashing and burning (at the moment, they kind of are!) and message boards rising up from the wreckage to usher in a new golden age of online discourse. That's part of why I get prickly about the board's culture warriors creating a weird, hostile environment on what used to be a radically open and accepting board. Anyway...

You should have PMed! I hope you enjoyed yourself in Berlin anyway. Anyone here is more than welcome to shoot me a PM for city tips or to grab a bierchen when in Berlin. :cheers:

[Airboy]

I'm older, way older. And I have a better job but not much more.

[someone123]

When I first posted pictures on here I took them with a point and shoot camera and then scanned them. Now they look old, like how vintage 60's or 70's photos would have seemed back then. No Instagram filters here:

https://live.staticflickr.com/8327/8129687287_d486915dc4_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8336/8129682991_4278040404_c.jpg

Exciting 2x12 storey precast-clad condo tower development (maybe the only crane up at the time?):
https://live.staticflickr.com/8052/8129713170_19b2252c51_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8328/8129684945_cfdd56e341_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8044/8129711980_77b845cdbf_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8333/8129709686_44475d853e_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8463/8129680931_c850dd9dde_b.jpg

From Toronto Doors Open:
https://live.staticflickr.com/3144/3014435649_1989ef9e64_b.jpg

[kool maudit]

I see the old CBC building on South Park and that old apartment building on South and Hollis that I always thought was kind of picturesque and rambling.

[Luisito]

I see the old CBC building on South Park and that old apartment building on South and Hollis that I always thought was kind of picturesque and rambling.

That's not south street that's Morris and Hollis.

[esquire]

Looking back on it, the period that I joined the SSP forum was an intensely city-focused period of my life. I was in grad school, and urban issues/municipal governance were a major focus of my studies, so I was reading a lot about those fields... at the time I was also doing a co-op placement in the City of Winnipeg's Finance Department. So every week I would get copies of Council and Committee agendas dropped off at my office, and even though little of it had anything to do with my work, I enjoyed poring over the agendas and the small development projects that were typical of that era in which very little was happening.

I was also travelling a lot within Canada at that time, I was making regular annual trips to a bunch of Canadian cities including Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver as well as occasional visits to many other cities. I was starting to broaden my horizons a bit by venturing outside of Canada as well... I visited New York a couple of times which was very fascinating and eye-opening, and I spent a good chunk of 2002 working at a software company in China. That gave me the opportunity to travel within the region and visit some other amazing places for the first time, like Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. Hong Kong in particular elevated my expectations of what a city could be.

I came back to Canada to attend the University of Alberta in the fall of 2002, and that was my first experience living downtown. I loved it, it was a very enjoyable place to be. I still love going for walks around my old neighbourhood anytime that I'm in Edmonton.

The funny thing is that I always sort of figured I'd end up pursuing this passion as a career path. Although I did have some minor brushes with it over the years, it never really took. I remember at one point interviewing for a couple of professional jobs with the City of Winnipeg that I was highly qualified for based on my experience (and that I'm sure I would have absolutely loved doing), but I never got an offer. That was probably over a decade ago. So I'm here strictly as a hobbyist/interested citizen these days. :)

PS - just like someone123, I too remember taking pictures on a point-and-shoot 35mm camera, getting the pictures developed, scanning them and uploading them for display here. Seeing those old photos brought back some memories!

[kool maudit]

That's not south street that's Morris and Hollis.

You're right! South was the yellow one on Cornwallis Sq.

[O-tacular]

One of the things that hanging out here for so long has demonstrated is that the lives of cities are much longer than those of men, and so they change much more slowly. The obverse being that in many ways they are what they are, even the very dynamic ones.

Something you used to see a lot of here was the guy who would sign up from someplace, usually a high-growth area, and he would be full of news about the proposed towers, the redevelopment plans and the architectural renderings. The promise was always that in just a few years time, his hometown would be something altogether different, just an entirely different tier of beast.

And this can happen, in some cases, but it takes decades, and while your city moves, all the others do too.

The extreme versions of this were usually regarded as such on here, but the general dynamic of SSP favours at least a subtler form of it. When I moved to Montreal, for instance, I was blown away at how much the city resembled the metropolitan archetype I had in my mind. Given the lag time involved in the formation of such aesthetics, that probably meant it was a very powerful kind of mid-20th century vision.

But there were problems. There were views that seemed incomplete and elements that were jarring and did not fit with the archetype. And so, rendering by rendering, plan by plan, there was a sense in which I came to see Montreal as incomplete but drawing nearer. My enthusiasm for the new projects, which were pretty thin on the ground back then, was part of a desire to join the living city to the internal vision.

Someone123 had a great post years ago on this. It was a throwaway, and I am not even sure he'd remember it, but out of frustration with some City Discussions thread in which some city was being dismissed for its lack of tenement rows and deco Goliaths, he asked "are we sure we are not just cargo-culting New York here?"

I am not sure I wasn't just cargo-culting New York. There is probably a narrative in which I should have been in New York, and that constructs like "my metropolitan archetype" were just reheated images of Manhattan.

Kilgore Trout and I, for instance, are two of this forum's longtime Montreal adopters, or converts. But he is there and I am not, and I think looking back that he always had a more thoughtful and more realistic affection for the city as it was. I am not saying it's binary, or that I had no appreciation for Montreal beyond a hazy, post-industrial city blur. I lived there for 16 years and I loved the place. But cities are what they are, and I had part of one foot, at least, in "what might be, what could have been and Manhattan."

You lose this over time. Stockholm is only Stockholm. I can smile to myself on Valhallavägen at how close it looks (on those few blocks) to the European version of the metropolitan vision, that slice of imperial Vienna, but Stockholm is Stockholm.

If I wanted New York I would have to try and get there. And if I wanted some hazy collage of images associated with either New York or Vienna in some past colourful period, there are coffee table books.

This post and a few others got me thinking about how Calgary was when I joined and the new optimism I felt about it. Back in the oughts Calgary was booming and transforming into a 'big city' with condo towers and massive office buildings cropping up everywhere. The Bow was the crescendo of that period. You couldn't keep up with the pace of development. The last time I visited Montreal in 2018 it felt like that period of time in Calgary with cranes everywhere and new towers cropping up on every other street. Things have been lethargic here since 2014 and in many ways Calgary is experiencing a drought like Montreal did throughout the 90's and 00's.

Since then I've come to appreciate smaller human scaled projects much more than mega towers. If anything, that area of growth has exploded here since. Calgary is definitely becoming more dense and more urban. Hence my opposition to that horrible Stephen Avenue mega project which thankfully seems dead now. Calgary is no longer an 80's oil boom town building nothing but windswept plazas next to corporate obelisks.

Not having your experience living in different cities (but having visited many) I follow the evolution and growth of my home town with a sense of cautious optimism. The other day I looked at some of the new condos going up in East Village and realized that we are not cutting and pasting Toronto or Vancouver style developments anymore. Our buildings do have a local flavour and aren't mere imitations any longer. In spite of some ugly tacky projects we have colour and variety and are improving the baseline quality of design every year. What was acceptable 10 years ago isn't anymore.

[O-tacular]

When I first posted pictures on here I took them with a point and shoot camera and then scanned them. Now they look old, like how vintage 60's or 70's photos would have seemed back then. No Instagram filters here:

https://live.staticflickr.com/8327/8129687287_d486915dc4_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8336/8129682991_4278040404_c.jpg

Exciting 2x12 storey precast-clad condo tower development (maybe the only crane up at the time?):
https://live.staticflickr.com/8052/8129713170_19b2252c51_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8328/8129684945_cfdd56e341_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8044/8129711980_77b845cdbf_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8333/8129709686_44475d853e_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/8463/8129680931_c850dd9dde_b.jpg

From Toronto Doors Open:
https://live.staticflickr.com/3144/3014435649_1989ef9e64_b.jpg

Whoa. This post is like a time capsule. It visually illustrates how much time has gone by since the start of this forum. On the technology front I remember logging in on a laptop that weighed as much as a pile of bricks as I had no internet browsing ability on my flip phone (with qwerty keyboard).

[MolsonExport]

As a child, it was all about skyscrapers, and the taller, the better. I remember going to downtown Montreal 3-4 times a year during the 1970s, and just begging my parents to stop the car so that I could get out and walk around. They would ask: "why? where do you want to go; what do you want to see?" And I would say, "Nothing...I just wanna look at the buildings". Around the time I was 11 or 12, I stumbled upon a huge box in a storage room in our house. It was filled with National Geographic magazines going back to the 1940s. I started leafing through some, and then, really getting into some of the articles. Then I came across a 1964 issue that had an article on New York City....
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/06/20/national-geographic-cover_custom-ce25b11e9187af714137f62dda798fe2fa3f67d2.jpeg
I was enthralled. I found what I was always looking for. It was a transformational moment for me. I started drawing buildings and skylines. I still have this crazy imagined skyline that I drew over a 4 year period (with many known buildings drawn, and a lot of my own ideas) which at one point stretched across two sides of my room (3'x2' bristol boards, 9 of them, in a row, with thousands of buildings, highways, parks, skytrain systems, ports, stadiums, islands...
I was destined to become an architect; that is, until it didn't happen. Too many hoops to jump through, the bar was high, the chances of doing something cool in the field being vanishingly low (0.01% of architects design 99.99% of all the skyscrapers of note).
But my fascination with buildings, and urban fabric never ebbed. On the contrary.
Of course like most of you, my tastes changed. It used to be all about the tall buildings (and how Toronto was getting them and Montreal....well, there wasn't any construction in Montreal). But even then I realized that the best parts of town to walk around were not the places with 56-72 storey buildings (or in Montreal's case, 30-45 storey buildings).
I've travelled the world since. If there is an observation gallery in the tallest building/tower, I always visit, not simply to take in the view, but rather to get the lay of the land for further exploration. The thing that I like best is to visit a teaming city, say Tokyo or Seoul, and...get lost. literally. just wandering the streets for hours and hours on end, taking in the serendipitous sights. I've been to Paris 5 times, and I still haven't made it to La Defense (there was time, in my late teens, when that might have been my second destination, after, of course, the Eiffel Tower).

[O-tacular]

I'd love to see a picture of that skyline you drew. Had no idea you could draw. I also would have loved to be an architect if it weren't for the reality of the job. I suck at math and find layout drawings a bore.

Whenever I would visit Montreal as a kid I would always marvel at the Cathedrals and their spires. Nothing like that exists here. I also liked the Aldred building.

[O-tacular]

I was 15 when I joined this forum. Jeez, I've now spent over half my life on here. SSP has just become one of those weirdly comforting, unchanging constants in life I guess. :happysad:

I've spent almost half my life on here too. I agree with the last part. Through many trials and tirbulations this forum has presented a weird stability. Heck it's even allowed me to discuss some really heavy subject matter and work through it.

[ScreamingViking]

I was destined to become an architect; that is, until it didn't happen. Too many hoops to jump through, the bar was high, the chances of doing something cool in the field being vanishingly low (0.01% of architects design 99.99% of all the skyscrapers of note).

I aimed for that. Failed. Thinking back, I was pretty naïve about it all, but my high school courses were mostly chosen to have the right pre-requisites, I had great grades, I understood the math, top of class in the drafting courses I took all the way through (this was pre-CAD, until my final year at least) and I was artistic... it was the last part that did me in. My portfolio wasn't artistically impressive enough. I was warned by a guidance counsellor my first year of secondary school that the odds would be slim (something like a thousand applicants for 50 or 60 openings in a program, at only 3 universities in the province back then)

Ended up going to university for a year taking a bunch of courses of interest, and re-applying. Didn't get in again, considered urban planning, but changed my mind later on. I did end up in a planning-related profession, though I'm not registered as one.

Anyway, those things fueled my interest in this website and a few others I had been looking at before finding the SSP forums.


0DUPfQCvHXw

[ssiguy]

I joined in 2006 and things have changed. I have always been an urban development nerd and this was a great forum. I was on skyscrapercity a couple years before this and still make the occasional post but I found it too restrictive especially in it's political forums.

I think once of the passions that made me join was my continuing disapproval of how Vancouver was continuing to make decisions that turned this once funky and easy going city into a money laundering pit as I sadly saw the city transforming from a great urban area to a resort for the purfew of only the wealthy.

As far as changes, I have moved a couple times but am now in a place I like in an area I adore. M & D have both passed away but I got a new love in my life 5 years ago..........my doggie Hitch who accompanies me everywhere. He's a rescue from Iran and has added so much joy to my life. I think he maybe collie but I just think of him as a pain in the ass crossed with a financial burden but he's worth every cent.

[Luisito]

MolsonExport A.K.A vomit bag profile pic has scarred me for life. I'm scared to comment on the same threads hes on.

Aside from that i really like this forum. It is the best Canadian forum out there. There are people from all over Canada. So you get info from across the country. Other forums I have been on have been very T.O and Vancouver centric. And they are usually controlled by the same 4 or 5 hardcore users. This forum is much ore open.

[MolsonExport]

https://img2.thejournal.ie/inline/1677143/original/?width=625&version=1677143

[jonny24]

Looks like I joined in 2017. I'd recently moved to Hamilton, and that hasn't changed. My apartment and girlfriend have become my house and my wife.

We've both changed jobs once since then, in both cases to an employer here in Hamilton, which was a huge quality of life boost.

I think I found the forum when I was looking for info on THF construction for some reason, and stayed because I liked the sports and other cultural discussions. Not really because of skyscrapers, although I work in construction and like checking out big projects.

I've gained a lot of appreciation for urban design an experience because of reading SSP, but I really only keep up to date on Hamilton projects and the Arenas and Stadiums threads.

[Zeej]

I'd love to see a picture of that skyline you drew. Had no idea you could draw. I also would have loved to be an architect if it weren't for the reality of the job. I suck at math and find layout drawings a bore.

Whenever I would visit Montreal as a kid I would always marvel at the Cathedrals and their spires. Nothing like that exists here. I also liked the Aldred building.

There's something very misleading about prerequisites for architecture. Very math and science heavy. Architecture school (at least mine) ended up being very very light on math, at least by my standards (previous degree was very math heavy). As a practicing architect, I do almost no math daily. I'm not sure the world at large really understands what we do on a day-to-day basis and it's not a remotely glamorous profession as it seems made out to be, save for a few starchitects.



As for me, starting lurking here in my teenage years just trying to absorb information about cities and their skylines and what shiny new skyscrapers were going up in various cities. I think Houston was the real boomtown at the time...... Los Angeles had some funky 70-floor post-modern proposals resembling Italian villas on steroids that never ended up being built (for the best). Toronto had only just begun to take off, Vancouver seemed to be low-key completing a lot of highrises (One Wall Centre was brand new) and rumour was that Calgary was getting a new Norman Foster designed tallest. I think Montreal completed a 22 floor 'tower.'

[Luisito]

https://img2.thejournal.ie/inline/1677143/original/?width=625&version=1677143


:runaway:

[Harrison]

I joined in January 2007 in grade 8 after I lurked for a few months after discovering SSP from the now-defunct Connect2Edmonton forum. I knew at that time I wanted to be an urban planner and found keen interest in this site and I'm happy to say I followed-through and work as a planner, nearing 30 years of age.

I have been an active member here over half my life, which is probably the most crazy thing to me.

[ScreamingViking]

There's something very misleading about prerequisites for architecture. Very math and science heavy. Architecture school (at least mine) ended up being very very light on math, at least by my standards (previous degree was very math heavy). As a practicing architect, I do almost no math daily. I'm not sure the world at large really understands what we do on a day-to-day basis and it's not a remotely glamorous profession as it seems made out to be, save for a few starchitects.

I imagine a lot of the calculations are now handled in software. In high school drafting (mid to late 1980s) I remember having to look up things like the correct size of beam for the required span in standards books... no calculations, just knowing what you want to do to look up what you need.

For one of the schools in Ontario (Waterloo) they had an interview, where you shared your portfolio and got asked all kinds of questions about it and other things. The guy who led mine was a really pompous ass, at least in my limited experience at that point. Then I walked around the architecture school, wandered into a studio, and had a wonderful chat with one of the students who showed genuine interest in me and in sharing her experience. I vaguely recall her warning me to pick a different direction. :haha:

[ScreamingViking]

I joined in January 2007 in grade 8 after I lurked for a few months after discovering SSP from the now-defunct Connect2Edmonton forum. I knew at that time I wanted to be an urban planner and found keen interest in this site and I'm happy to say I followed-through and work as a planner, nearing 30 years of age.

I have been an active member here over half my life, which is probably the most crazy thing to me.

So interesting to learn of the diversity of ages here :tup:
(and probably in other aspects, but that's the one that's evident in this thread)

[Kilgore Trout]

Kilgore Trout and I, for instance, are two of this forum's longtime Montreal adopters, or converts. But he is there and I am not, and I think looking back that he always had a more thoughtful and more realistic affection for the city as it was. I am not saying it's binary, or that I had no appreciation for Montreal beyond a hazy, post-industrial city blur. I lived there for 16 years and I loved the place. But cities are what they are, and I had part of one foot, at least, in "what might be, what could have been and Manhattan."

I left for a long time too, but my wife and I made a practical choice to move back to Canada for a variety of reasons, and we just like Montreal better than anywhere else in this country. (We played with the idea of moving to Europe, maybe Amsterdam, but it would have involved too many hurdles.) I definitely feel like I have less of a romantic vision of the city than I did when I first lived here, and professionally a big chunk of my life is still back in Hong Kong, so it's definitely a more ambivalent kind of relationship than when I was younger.

Anyway, I remember meeting you for the first time about two days after I moved to Montreal in 2002. I was still a teenager! We went for a walk in Verdun before driving up to your place on the Plateau across from Lafontaine Park. And then a few days after that we had drinks with elsonic (who I still have drinks with a couple of times a year), Martin, Serge (maybe?) and the girl to whom I am now married :)

[Kilgore Trout]

You must be one of the youngest on this forum. It had a large effect shaping me as well in those formative years. Ideals smashed into reality though and now I live in suburbia with 2 kids.

In hindsight some initiatives I supported in college have since lost their luster. For instance in Calgary our council has reduced lot sizes in Greenfield development to the point that there are zero lot line communities cropping up now. Sounds great in theory but leads to depressing streets like this with zero backyards or space to plant trees:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8667939,-113.9558965,3a,75y,286.61h,88.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sT4qBgv3a-xaD2vXwAyw-GQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8706718,-113.9642065,3a,75y,94.03h,91.99t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sA36OWTUrtOM3GLl6uHbQ2g!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DA36OWTUrtOM3GLl6uHbQ2g%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D111.76239%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

It's also done nothing to help affordability.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, the problem isn't the houses are packed together, it's that the road is enormous, the sidewalks are narrow and there are no trees. That kind of density works if you have a comfortable pedestrian environment and places nearby to walk but the way Calgary has done it is just the worst of both worlds.

[urbandreamer]

I first joined UT & SSP in 2002 but kept being super annoying and got kicked off a bunch of times ha. By 2007 I'd calmed down and decided to mostly post photos as urbandreamer. I've always been interested in residential architecture, especially high rise, since reading the NYT real estate section in the early 90s at high school then Christopher Hume in the Toronto Star real estate section in the mid-late 90s. I discovered UT & SSP/SSC while living in Montreal in 2002-03: I guess I was homesick for Toronto and missed the excitement of Toronto's upcoming developments; Montreal was pretty dead then although there were two condo buildings going up across from me (Europa and another one on Wellington West.)

I've sort of lost interest in architecture this past year or so: it could be a combo of depression, changing interests (finally got my DL/car), taking care of my elderly mother, the general mood of the times (inflation, war, angst), dealing with health problems, getting older blah blah blah.

[niwell]

From a purely aesthetic point of view, the problem isn't the houses are packed together, it's that the road is enormous, the sidewalks are narrow and there are no trees. That kind of density works if you have a comfortable pedestrian environment and places nearby to walk but the way Calgary has done it is just the worst of both worlds.


Yeah - honestly that wouldn’t look too bad if the road width was halved. Still wouldn’t be anywhere to walk of course.

Most of the new GTA suburbs actually have pretty narrow streets, but there’s no lane ways so it’s very garage/driveway heavy. Combine the Calgary houses with that and you’d at least have something more aesthetically pleasing.

[GenWhy?]

I joined in January 2007 in grade 8 after I lurked for a few months after discovering SSP from the now-defunct Connect2Edmonton forum. I knew at that time I wanted to be an urban planner and found keen interest in this site and I'm happy to say I followed-through and work as a planner, nearing 30 years of age.

I have been an active member here over half my life, which is probably the most crazy thing to me.

So interesting! Years ago, probably in 2009, I was trying to look up information on buildings in Edmonton and found all the information was easily accessible (each building listed individually, area plans underway, etc) on Connect2Edmonton. Thought, "okay let's go into Planning" (never happened). Connect2Edmonton shut down so I joined this forum.

Decided against working for the government, but I now do private consulting for real estate development.

[circle33]

One guy I miss having around is circle33. I met him in person at a Toronto mining show. Wonder if he still lurks here..

Yes I do. In the creepiest way imaginable.

[LightingGuy]

I joined in 2013 as @middeljohn. Back then I was 24 living in London ON. Then moved to Edmonton for a few years, and for the last 5 been back in the GTA.

Biggest life change was getting married and selling everything I own to starting a business. I have also found myself having a lot more appreciation for conservatism than when I was younger. I'm not all that mesmerized by skyscrapers anymore, but have a much stronger grasp of how the construction industry works than I used to.

I appreciate the insight and different perspectives on this forum. I am often blown away by the sheer amount of knowledge some posters have about certain topics, and have learned a lot.

[suburbanite]

Think I first came across this place in 2010 when I would've been in 11th grade growing up in Oakville. Mostly just looked at the diagrams and tallest proposals/under construction lists. Now I'm almost 30, only live in Toronto part-time, and don't put nearly as much weight on the number or height of proposals that pop up.

I do actually credit this place with putting me on the career path I'm on now. At the end of high school I was pretty much just on autopilot knowing I wanted to go into finance but not having any particular enthusiasm for working for a mutual fund or in banking. My first two co-op jobs were spent doing exactly that because I thought it was what one was supposed to do when the opportunity presented itself. After reading some more discussions with people here and on Urbantoronto talking about the the fundamentals of property development and analyzing new builds, I spent the last co-op term working for a REIT and have been in commercial real estate ever since.

[MolsonExport]

I don't think SSP changed me much (well, I certainly learned a few things from some of our more informed contributors), but I sure as hell spent a fair bit of time on these pages. As time goes on, it seems that fewer and fewer contributors have a connection to the remit of this site, and more are just here to sling their political/social views.

[O-tacular]

I don't know if SSP changed me per se, but I've been on it for so long that I have naturally evolved over time into a different person.

[Luisito]

SSP It's certainly making me have less sympathy for people on the left.

[Architype]

SSP It's certainly making me have less sympathy for people on the left.

A veritable pernicious lair of dirty commies and Russian trolls I tell ya. :rolleyes:

[Gresto]

SSP It's certainly making me have less sympathy for people on the left.
Don't worry, the feeling is mutual.

[Luisito]

A veritable pernicious lair of dirty commies and Russian trolls I tell ya. :rolleyes:
No. Actual commies are cool. I'm talking about the privileged Candian left. The virtue signaling ones that insult people they don't agree with

[Architype]

No. Actual commies are cool. I'm talking about the privileged Candian left. The virtue signaling ones that insult people they don't agree with

Where are the cool commies, Cuba, China? You forgot about the privileged Canadian right, at best it's potentially treacherous in every political direction. :eek:

[Luisito]

d Canadian right, at best it's potentially treacherous in every political direction. :eek:

I am not a fan of the privileged right either, though i don't see them insulting anyone on here.

[O-tacular]

I am not a fan of the privileged right either, though i don't see them insulting anyone on here.

Really? Your first post in this thread was a dig at Molson.

[Luisito]

Really? Your first post in this thread was a dig at Molson.

It was a joke. The vomit bag? I have nothing against Molson. LOL

[O-tacular]

It was a joke. The vomit bag? I have nothing against Molson. LOL

I wasn’t sure. Speaking of vomit bags is that from Trains Planes and Automobiles? Just watched that on TV the other day and Steve Martin’s line about “Didn’t you notice I was reading the vomit bag while you were talking?” Made me chuckle.

[kool maudit]

John Candy was a great Canadian.

[Luisito]

I wasn’t sure. Speaking of vomit bags is that from Trains Planes and Automobiles? Just watched that on TV the other day and Steve Martin’s line about “Didn’t you notice I was reading the vomit bag while you were speaking?” Made me chuckle.
LOL Could be. I haven't seen that since around the time it came out.



John Candy was a great Canadian.

Yes indeed. RIP

[MolsonExport]

I wasn’t sure. Speaking of vomit bags is that from Trains Planes and Automobiles? Just watched that on TV the other day and Steve Martin’s line about “Didn’t you notice I was reading the vomit bag while you were speaking?” Made me chuckle.

This is precisely where I got it from. I laughed so much when I heard that.

https://y.yarn.co/7461ed60-cc1b-454c-a45f-b2f84327a5bb_text.gif

I mean, didn't you notice on the plane when you started talking, eventually I started reading the vomit bag?

hear it here: https://movie-sounds.org/comedy-movie-sounds/quotes-with-sound-clips-from-planes-trains-automobiles-1987/i-mean-didn-t-you-notice-on-the-plane-when-you-started-talking-eventually-i-started-reading-the-vomit-bag

Didn't that give you some sort of clue like, hey, maybe this guy's not enjoying it?

[O-tacular]

This is precisely where I got it from. I laughed so much when I heard that.

https://y.yarn.co/7461ed60-cc1b-454c-a45f-b2f84327a5bb_text.gif



hear it here: https://movie-sounds.org/comedy-movie-sounds/quotes-with-sound-clips-from-planes-trains-automobiles-1987/i-mean-didn-t-you-notice-on-the-plane-when-you-started-talking-eventually-i-started-reading-the-vomit-bag

:haha::haha::haha:

So many great quotes from that movie. Too many to count. Similar to the vomit bag I loved this line:

- I could tolerate any insurance seminar. For days, I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face.

- They'd say: How can you stand it? And I'd say: Cause I've been with Del Griffith.

And of course this:

https://media.tenor.com/O13l1rqPF-UAAAAC/planes-trains-automobiles-those-arent-pillows.gif

[WhipperSnapper]

Well, it's a John Hughes movie . Died far too soon like Candy.

[LightingGuy]

Left, Right - doesn't matter we need multiple perspectives. Open respectful disagreement is a good thing. I find that especially nowadays where I work from home, I'm not as surrounded by others perspectives on a daily basis, so I'm either in my head (100% agreement), or with my wife (90% agreement), or with my friends/relatives (70-80% agreement). Like most people, I tend to naturally avoid people who I always disagree with, and now I'm in environment where I basically only have people who I agree with on almost everything.

So I'd say that's the biggest value I get from this forum - multiple perspectives from across the country - as long as it's respectful commentary that makes an attempt to contribute/correct.

[O-tacular]

Well, it's a John Hughes movie . Died far too soon like Candy.

He should have gotten a credit for the Saw movies where Kevin McCallister grows up to become a serial killer. :P

One of my all time favourites is still Uncle Buck:

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AnimatedSatisfiedBigmouthbass-max-1mb.gif

I have an uncle who fashioned himself after that character. Humiliated me one day in Elementary school when he drove me in a broke down handy bus and insisted on dropping me off at the front door in front of all the other kids. I think the tailpipe may have even backfired.

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

John Candy was a great Canadian.

God bless him. His work as a comedian, actor and genuinely humble, honest person will never be forgotten.


I think SSP shaped my understanding of the development industry a lot. Then again, of course it would, I was a 14 year old when I first started lurking here, some quiet punk trying to get through AutoCAD class.
Of course, I see how absurd that sounds when I think I could've started making diagrams and that would've been somewhat related to those classes. Hell, i actually made a diagram of a building for math class in grade 9. It wasn't to scale, but it was still faithful to the buildigns design.

But seeing Canada coast to coast (in verious threads of course), and understanding how different cities work and their layout has been such a nice part of being on this site. I really find myself enjoying the nitty-gritty of how cities are layed out and their various quirks.

[HomeInMyShoes]

In 2005, I wasn't married, didn't have three kids, had stopped playing guitar for a while.

Things are different now.

[O-tacular]

Left, Right - doesn't matter we need multiple perspectives. Open respectful disagreement is a good thing. I find that especially nowadays where I work from home, I'm not as surrounded by others perspectives on a daily basis, so I'm either in my head (100% agreement), or with my wife (90% agreement), or with my friends/relatives (70-80% agreement). Like most people, I tend to naturally avoid people who I always disagree with, and now I'm in environment where I basically only have people who I agree with on almost everything.

So I'd say that's the biggest value I get from this forum - multiple perspectives from across the country - as long as it's respectful commentary that makes an attempt to contribute/correct.

Fair enough. I just grow weary of right wingers coming and spewing ignorant statements bordering on hate speech and then clutching their pearls when there's any level of pushback.

[LightingGuy]

Fair enough. I just grow weary of right wingers coming and spewing ignorant statements bordering on hate speech and then clutching their pearls when there's any level of pushback.

Agreed, but that's not unique to people on the right. Dicks are everywhere on the political spectrum and are independent of ideology.

[Nashe]

Joined in early 2009, but lurked for a few years before that. Since that time:

Got married, got 2 cats. Got a promotion to management. Sold the house, bought a house and renovated it over 3 years. Sold that and built a house, got a dog then upgraded the house over 6 years. Sold that and moved to the city where we've been for the past 5 years. Got a second dog after two of the cats passed. I just hit 50 this year and am happy with only fur-children. We travel a lot more, and enjoy that. Less than 5 years to go to retirement, so slowly trying to figure out if I can afford to. :D

[samne]

Joined in 2003 while I was living/working in the US. Didn’t know anyone there, so started connecting with people online which was new to me at the time. Have always had a deep fascination with urban development and found like minded people on SSP.

Since then, moved back to home town Toronto. Married, kids, dog, mortgage, etc etc…Never the biggest contributor, but still hung around here on SSP 😀

[MolsonExport]

:haha::haha::haha:

So many great quotes from that movie. Too many to count. Similar to the vomit bag I loved this line:



And of course this:

https://media.tenor.com/O13l1rqPF-UAAAAC/planes-trains-automobiles-those-arent-pillows.gif

Totally. I loved the insurance seminar line. So funny. It is probably one of the funniest ever movies (along with Airplane!), and some movies that have me laughing like crazy even though they are not intentionally funny (e.g., Goodfellas).

[O-tacular]

Totally. I loved the insurance seminar line. So funny. It is probably one of the funniest ever movies (along with Airplane!), and some movies that have me laughing like crazy even though they are not intentionally funny (e.g., Goodfellas).

I've never actually seen all of Goodfellas. Is that why you love to post this gif so much?

https://media.tenor.com/6TcA9vRym4MAAAAM/laugh-mock.gif

Airplane was great but I really loved the Naked Gun series. Leslie Nielsen could play Eddy Savoie in the movie adaptation about Clockzilla.

https://i.giphy.com/media/joV1k1sNOT5xC/giphy.webp

As for unintentionally funny movies have you witnessed The Room?

https://media0.giphy.com/avatars/theroom/1RRD9RzjwfbB.gif

https://media.tenor.com/3MYmU_ShnpUAAAAC/tommy-wiseau-tearing-me-apart.gif

[O-tacular]

Joined in early 2009, but lurked for a few years before that. Since that time:

Got married, got 2 cats. Got a promotion to management. Sold the house, bought a house and renovated it over 3 years. Sold that and built a house, got a dog then upgraded the house over 6 years. Sold that and moved to the city where we've been for the past 5 years. Got a second dog after two of the cats passed. I just hit 50 this year and am happy with only fur-children. We travel a lot more, and enjoy that. Less than 5 years to go to retirement, so slowly trying to figure out if I can afford to. :D

Pretty crazy when you can measure the length of time in number of pets and homes that have come and gone.

[11a2b3]

Lurked here in highschool when it was Naylds Skyscraperpage, 1998.

[harls]

Yes I do. In the creepiest way imaginable.

Don't think I didn't see this.

[MolsonExport]

https://media.tenor.com/6TcA9vRym4MAAAAM/laugh-mock.gif

Goodfellas is one of the best movies of all time. Easily ranks as one of my top three favourite movies.

Sometimes I post this one too, out of frustration with some of the morons on this site.
https://media.tenor.com/VaMT37sHoNoAAAAd/good-goodfellas.gif

[softee]

When I joined SSP over 20 years ago (this is my second account) I was a skinnyfat single, childless dude in my early 30s living in North Bay and working at a job I didn't enjoy. Fast forward to today and I'm still a single, childless dude, but I moved to downtown Toronto 12 years ago and after a series of short term flings I've been seriously dating a great girl for the last 3 years.

I've been into fitness and lifting for over 10 years now, and am in much better shape.

I still have a job I don't enjoy, but I'm well on my way to leaving that behind and supporting myself through self employment by means of a youtube channel that allows me to earn income doing something I enjoy that doesn't even feel like work (walking around and talking about Toronto and other cities).

I still check the forum on a daily basis and my focus on urbanism and hi-rise development is as strong as ever.

[harls]

:haha::haha::haha:

So many great quotes from that movie. Too many to count. Similar to the vomit bag I loved this line:


And of course this:

https://media.tenor.com/O13l1rqPF-UAAAAC/planes-trains-automobiles-those-arent-pillows.gif


People train runs outta Stubbvile. Lessin' your a hog or cattle.*hawk* thpuuut.

Y3qEBLovX_c

[MolsonExport]

^love that scene. Stubbville. What a shitty-sounding place.
https://media.tenor.com/40jn69m5ds8AAAAC/planes-trains-and-automobiles-john-candy.gif

https://uploads.dailydot.com/1ff/f8/sHIIAk2B-ptamessaround.gif?auto=compress&fm=gif

[MolsonExport]

Another classic hilarious film of yesteryear:
https://media.tenor.com/GynZlYR9Tu0AAAAM/nerd-laugh.gif

Go to 1:17 for the classic horse laugh. Still makes me barf with laughter
igKufjUCJZg

[harls]

^ I made my kids watch this a couple of years ago, to know real comedy (planes trains).

[MolsonExport]

And the funniest of all:
https://y.yarn.co/15a0ecb3-438b-4c2c-aa60-086e064e0c82_text.gif
^this scene makes me laugh so hard, I have tears flowing.
https://media4.giphy.com/media/YdkrS0JqGWsQE/giphy.gif
That second slap for good measure kills me.
https://media.tenor.com/ByRUgK7BjvQAAAAd/leons-getting-larger-airplane.gif
^Johnny stole the show.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/ht0L7yWQcaqK4/giphy.gif
^Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop____!

There is no end to the silliness in this movie. I still discover new silliness, even after seeing the film maybe 20 times.

[harls]

Ahahah Airplane. The best!

[MolsonExport]

I think it is the funniest film of all time.

[O-tacular]

People train runs outta Stubbvile. Lessin' your a hog or cattle.*hawk* thpuuut.

Y3qEBLovX_c

Yes so classic. "Her first baby - come out sideways. She didn't scream or nothin'." :haha:

Does that actor ever not play a creep? The dentist dad from Happiness was next level.

[O-tacular]

And the funniest of all:
https://y.yarn.co/15a0ecb3-438b-4c2c-aa60-086e064e0c82_text.gif
^this scene makes me laugh so hard, I have tears flowing.
https://media4.giphy.com/media/YdkrS0JqGWsQE/giphy.gif
That second slap for good measure kills me.
https://media.tenor.com/ByRUgK7BjvQAAAAd/leons-getting-larger-airplane.gif
^Johnny stole the show.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/ht0L7yWQcaqK4/giphy.gif
^Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop____!

There is no end to the silliness in this movie. I still discover new silliness, even after seeing the film maybe 20 times.

https://media.tenor.com/eyxWarmgGskAAAAC/shit-gonna.gif