Why I love Toronto

Spacing and the Star both have lists of reasons why they love Toronto.

Here's mine: in Toronto I'm nothing special.

Growing up, I was the weird girl with the long hair and the accent. In Toronto, there's always someone around who's weirder, or has longer hair, or has a stronger accent.

Elsewhere, people tend to be impressed because I have a handful of European languages. In Toronto, they're vaguely disappointed that I don't speak, say, Thai.

Elsewhere, I've had people be impressed because I can dabble in a few musical instruments. In Toronto, there's a busker right there playing a bassoon, and the one in the other subway station was playing some strange instrument I've never seen before in my life.

Here, I never get the opportunity to develop the illusion that any of these things are special, and I'm a better person for it.