what happens while you're sleeping...
a few weeks ago after my favourite sunday routine of bulk food shopping for trail mix and banana chips, i was wandering home along st. laurent... enjoying the downhill slope and feeling quite dandy. a girl approached from the opposite direction and as our feet took us ever closer to each other, i noticed that she was singing. now, i tend to categorize public singing in three ways: 1. 4AM coming home from the bar/club singing, 2. crazy people singing that is really loud, but you have to pretend you don't hear or else they might want to talk to you, and 3. the soft sort of humming that the rest of the population sometimes is brave enough to let slip from their lips.

ok, so this girl's singing fit in with non of my ready made categories. she was not drunk, not crazy, but she did not restrict her song to a gentle hum. nope. not our girl here. she was singing an incredibly off-key but genuinely inspiring version of... ready for it... "big time sensuality" by bjork. who sings that walking down the street!? but you know what? it was absolutely fucking perfect. it was all i could do from letting my jaw drop in wonder at this beautiful thing that just happened to know exactly what i needed to hear. so you know what i did? i took up her song going the other way. in my off-key, out of tune voice... i did my best to sing big time sensuality at a level that ensured anyone who passed me heard it loud and clear.

and i crossed my fingers that someone else would pick up my song. it was kind of like the montreal version of "pay it forward."