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I've discovered that, to be successful in life, you have to live by the same rules that make you successful at work. I mean, I guess I knew this before, but didn't really pay it much attention. Now I know.

Everyday, I have to start with a plan or the day is wated and I feel like I've let myself down. I have to be able to check something of my list or I feel like I've been given the gift of a prefectly great day... and flushed it down the toilet.

So, before going to bed, or even while I'm on the train, killing time, I make tat list. Even if the list says "walk to point A and look around." Frequently, I don't even follow my list. I start out with the intention of checking something off the list, but something more interesting grabs my attention and I go with it.

But my life is underway now. I feel good. I have a plan. I have planS. I forgt that I need that and it messed me up for a while there. But I'm back and I'm happy.

* * *

It's so windy out tonight. Doors are slamming shut as the wind blows through all the open windows. Open windows an locked iron gates. (All the houses have iron gates in front of their doors.)

Only this afternoon I sweated as I walked up a hill at Centennial Park. So much open space, so much sparkling, warm, tingling sun. And a breeze -- a warm breeze -- just enough to keep me comfortable.

I feel that I got to know the city so much more today. We are closer now, Sydney and I. And it feels different. I'm starting to feel that I'm not a stranger to it. Instead, I'm a new friend. Exploring its limits, its intricacies. And yet it hasn't changed. Except to become a few degrees cooler. I believe, in fact, that Toronto's weather was HOTTER than Sydney's today.

I've noticed, though... you know that smell that Toronto gets in the summer? You know, on those hot, humid days? It smells of rot and urine, rusted, belching, tail pipes, and musty back alleys. Sydney doesn't have that smell.

It's a city, like any city, with its coffee shops, banks, restaurants and convenience stores. But it's different. It's clean. And green parks in the middle of it all - huge lush parks, sprinkled about with no regard for space conservation. The city is spread out in a huge area. They seem to have no shortage of space. And if I want to go anywhere in the city, I can get there cheaply. And even if I want to go somewhere NOT in the city, I can still get there for less than $20 on their "urban" train system.

And people talk to you at the gym. They tell you their name, they smile. They recognize you.

It's the biggest small town I've ever seen.

And I LIVE here.

And I'll probably know it better than most Sydneysiders by the time I leave.

It's on my to-do list.