Bound For Glory

One of my very favourite things that I started during my thing-a-day blog and my "year off" [because it ended up not being very off @ all] was my volunteer work. It's true, I'm not out there sheltering the homeless or feeding the needy or anything entirely altruistic like that. What I am doing is volunteering @ the Bata Shoe Museum. I have been there now for almost 100 hours [once I reach the 100 hour mark, I enter into a new category of volunteer] - I am there every other Thursday and then I try to pick up one or two random shifts throughout the month. I love it. The people I volunteer with and the paid employees are fantastic and truly appreciate all of the efforts of the volunteer team [they throw a number of parties for us and we also get invited to all of the special events @ the museum - makes me feel a bit special]. In addition, the shoe museum is very much one of a kind. I think it's a real gem for Toronto - as much as people may mock the notion of a history of humankind told through our feet. There is a certain poetry to it. Also, it's just plain fun. And so many of our guests [from all over the world] emerge from their visit positively exuberant and full of compliments - which, as a front-line volunteer, I am the first to recieve.

The Bata Shoe Museum has just unveiled a new exhibition - its focus is the evolution of winter sports footwear. So, it's decidedly more butch than what was housed previously in the space - the ballet shoe exhibition. And seriously, this is as testosterone-y as the shoe museum is likely to get. I didn't notice an uptick in male visitors this evening - just the usual assortment of dudes being dragged along by their girlfriends. It's an interesting exhibition - mostly dedicated to Winter Olympic sports - it features a lot of footwear types that I didn't even know existed [think luge and bobsled accessories] as well as a good assortment of celebrity athlete footwear and skates, ski boots and even curling shoes. Also, they have a couple of Nintendo Wiis up in there to provide an interactive element - you can play some winter sports if you are so inspired. The most important thing I learned - that ski jumping is seriously all about the boots. So very tilty. Which is kinda the most important thing I learned about ballet shoes from that exhibition [seriously - with the shape of the show, you must be on pointe].