The movie adaptation of the sequel to your life

Slowly creeping into December now... hard to believe! Probably because there's no snow to speak of yet and it's actually unseasonably warm... and I didn't go to Vegas this year at the end of November. Although, not like that was a tradition or anything- just fluke. Getting in that last bit of desert sunshine before the plunge into winter darkness. And those last two times on departure it has been mad snowing. For now, just gray and rainy.

Everything's been crazy all over the place lately. Work has been frantic.... they keep publishing the number to my work and so I've just been getting slammed. Frustrating! I have been starting to look at other jobs- internal options and poking around on that side of things in general. Can find out some interesting things there...

Have been keeping busy otherwise however with they gym and now trampolining. Gotta get my rage out somehow... And vacation planning never hurts. Jay Peak snowboarding holiday is coming soon enough but Diane and I have squeezed in a trip to Denver for some more pre-season snowboarding. Found out that we have a direct flight there and then we found a promo code online so couldn't resist. It should be pretty crazy! Snowboarding in the Rockies... So looking forward to it! Also, have gotten in touch with Adam- outside of his late night drunk dials to me...- and seems like I'll be joining in with him and Trevor for snowboarding this season. Nice stuff to look forward to!

I seem to have misplaced motivation these days... limping through the day of work... although, not especially busy so that evens itself out. Course work is going all right too but for some reason lack of motivation to do the work for it. Can't really explain, just can't be bothered for the moment. It will hopefully pass soon- otherwise I'll just have to summon up the supreme effort to get through module readings and questions... Focus! Where did I misplace it...

I went to a yoga class last night with Diane... in addition to having met her at the gym earlier in the day. Yoga was ok. The exercise class studio was freezing though so that was a bit unpleasant. The stretching was good and I can at least feel that today. Might try it again but must try it at Rideau instead where the studio is not freezing...

Ran into Nolan yesterday when I was walking home... It was nice. We spent ages just talking on the street. Seeing him always puts me in a good mood. He's just so energetic and hyped about something. Probably going to hang out with him some time this weekend... hoping to arrange going to Zaphods; e-mailed TA Chris about it and he seems partial to it. It'd be nice- especially after last weekend's failure to go for a bit of dancing. I could definitely deal with some Zaphods.

Ah, the excitement, she is never-ending... slow day today.

So the weekend was good. Halloween was a bit of a fiasco, but nothing too bad I guess. Gavin had invited me to a party which I wound up declining once I found out who else was going to be there. I had thought that if Diane, Darren and Maesa were also going then it would be fine but that was not to be. Instead, I went to Cannamore with Diane, Darren and Maesa for the the Spooky Wagon ride and haunted village- which was good enough times. Probably would've been more into it if I was 14 though :P We all had a tarot reading which was hilariously off for everyone except me, which was really funny. But when you're reading platitudes you're bound to eventually get it right. After we got back to the city we split up. I thought that I would meet up with Diane and Maesa later but alas several miscommunications meant it was not to be... Anyways, got all costumed up in my flapper girl get-up and headed off to Aloha which was open for a change. Aloha always makes for a good evening... Random girls asking us sex questions and the girl that I sat next too joked about the fact that we were wearing the same tights- just plain old black fishnets... but after a few drinks things like this seem funny... hrmmm... Eventually, we headed off to the Market to try going to the Live Lounge because I felt like dancing it up and figured the line would be shorter there than at Zaphods. Line-up at Live was a fiasco because of it being sandwiched between two skanky clubs... Night did not end well... Unfortunate since it had been so good up until then.

On Sunday I met Pietro for breakfast. First time I'd seen him since Italia actually... ooops, my fault on that one. Good to catch up face to face though instead of the lengthy e-mail messages. I also thought that I'd do my online midterm that night but it was not to be. I did finally get around to it yesterday though- think it went ok, just felt very braindead/unoriginal for the essay portions. Re-reading what I wrote today and it seems fine but at the time it didn't seem to flow. Also saw Maggie last night. Went for some Chinese food- which was pretty decent. I hadn't seen her in ages so it was nice to catch up.

Few things on for this week... must fit in seeing Nolan and Rick actually e-mailed me about going to Chez Lucien- but he suggested lunch and right now things are too busy for me to get away long enough to pull that off- so gave him a counter offer and we'll see.

Hectic week. Can hardly believe it's already Friday! I am fully back into the swing of things at work and the online course. I have to try and find a block of time to complete an online midterm- which in itself is not that big a deal but I've been used to writing papers for these courses so blocking out time for a midterm is a bit of an annoyance. Meh, I'll get over it. Have prepped for it though by flagging stuff in my course text and stuff- so it won't be terrible.

Otherwise, though, it's been a good week. Finally saw Spam! Incredible. We went out to bustling Munster to chill with Tiff. And then I got to bore them with Italia pictures while eating terribly unhealthy take out which was also very delicious. Wednesday night I met up with Nolan for dinner and drinks. We hit up the Imperial for food and it was delicious. We then moved over to James St Pub for cheap pints... and the price to have cheap pints was to enjoy a dj playing 90s hip hop. Very bizarre. We'd decided to chill in the basement at the bar because it was fairly full and loud-ish upstairs because of the hockey game. Downstairs was more tame. Except that once the game was done the dj set up. Odd because there weren't that many people in the basement- literally less than 10- so it isn't like people were rockin' out and dancing to the music. Anyway... I really enjoyed the evening with Nolan. Again, I was a bit nervous about seeing him because I don't know him that well and I don't know if it was a fluke that we'd got along so well the first time we hung out. And again there wasn't anything to worry about. Probably going to check out the Mad Caddies show next month together. Last night I saw Jay. We went to the Bytowne to see Lost Boys- awesomely cheesy 80s horror vampire movie... and the Coreys are in it- so I don't think you can go really wrong. Theatre was mostly empty and I had an awesome time with Jay. Much laughter- a couple scary moments in the movie that weren't reduced to laughter yet. Afterward, I went back to his place for a bit to chill before he wound up walking me home.

I also went back to full tilt at the gym this week. Diane joined me for a day of working out- she's trying to get her gym/fitness motivation back. I also saw Rick at the gym and he teased me quite a bit about my, uh, gym absence over the last couple of months. We swapped holiday stories because he went on a cruise at some point when I was doing my vacationing. We then made our usual vague plans of going to Chez Lucien's sometime soon... mmm... tasty...

Latest flavour of Ubuntu got released this week- Karmic Koala... which to be honest just sounds like cool girlie drink that I would enjoy... it sounds blue, very alcoholic and delicious. I'll probably put it on my EEE next week... after my online midterm... don't want to fuck with the partitions right now and at that I want to wipe the partitions when I install it. Don't think that I'll throw it on my desktop/media box just yet though... feel like I might just wait for the next long term release for that. Meh.

Snowboarding holiday at Jay Peak is all booked up... so far away but can't help but feel excited for it anyways! For now though I guess I obsess about the coming weekend and Hallowe'en... have been invited to a party- though not sure if I'm going to go since there are people going that I don't want to see. Might just kick it in the market or maybe call Trev and Adam and see where they land up...

So back in the land of work and the day to day humdrum life. It was an amazing two weeks in Italy. For the first week Diane and I spent time in Naples, Sorrento and Capri- although mainly in Naples before we went to Rome for the rest of the time. Pietro came and joined us in Naples and then tagged along to Rome for a day before going back to where his family was. Relaxing vacation this was not. I think I was not meant for beach holidays/sitting around and chilling. Every day was fairly packed full of stuff. Highlights include a day in Capri, visiting Vesuvius, boys of Rome, gelato!!!, Colosseum and really all the sites visited. Did a pub crawl night in Rome and hung out with hilarious Australian kids- it was drunktacular! The guy who actually arranged the pub crawl that Diane and I went on was originally from Toronto- too funny! He chatted us up when we were outside the Pantheon- just giving us the details of the pub crawl and stuff and it's one of those the world is thiiiiiiiis big moments when you do the well where are you from thing and then find out how close you are when you're halfway around the world. Although, I did talk to other Canadians a different night and they were definitely creepy and weird- thankfully saved by Italian boys who were too sweet. Gave me an evening tour of Trastevere and chilled over drinks and just enjoying the night together. I have started on the gargantuan task of photo sorting now... my pictures and Diane's amount to around 2,000... mind you now that I've started sorting them they have started to thin out. Hopefully I'll be able to throw together some albums shortly. And is it wrong that I'm already keeping an eye out on doing another trip shortly? Trying to convince my sister on this one and need to wait out a couple weeks but half day-dreaming about it already...

Work is par for the course right not. I've started keeping an eye out for other jobs. And I'm moving forward with the privacy courses. I am in fact meeting people from my class tomorrow night to discuss subject matter. Should be interesting.

Otherwise, I've had a few people popping out of the woodwork lately. I got an e-mail from Jeff when I was in Rome saying that he'd be interested in seeing me again sometime. That kind of threw me. Been ages since we've seen each other but keep up on those sporadic e-mails. Meeting up in Peterborough sometime in November if things actually do work out... it works as a good mid-point between here and London. Then on Monday I got a message from Wolf... he'd been up in Toronto recently for Derek's wedding and wanted to do his usual check-in. He swears this year that he'll manage meeting up for snowboarding in Vermont- which was kind of timely since I was looking at booking Jay Peak already....eeeeeeeeeeek! Still 2 months to go til winter but something to get excited about. I sent him a crazy update of things going on with me and dates I was looking at for Jay Peak- so here's hoping he can make it. Failing that, I did tell him that I'd be down with meeting up with him and his friends... they did some crazy trip to Utah last year for the snow sports and the video he sent me was totally rad.

I hung out with Jay a bit on the weekend. It was OK. I don't know. Can't put my finger on what it is when I spend time with him now but it's not how it was? I don't feel I click with him the same way. I don't know. It's probably in my head is all. I also saw Tiffy on the weekend. We hit up Bayshore and really it was more about talking than shopping. Blindly went in and out of stores. This Friday I should be seeing her again and we are hoping Tim will be able to grace us with his presence- been way too long since I've seen Tim! Hoping that the postcard I sent to him found him.

Feeling in an odd way these days... with the old friends coming out of the woodwork and the newer people I've been hanging out with are just less than, I don't know... just not so respectable as it turns out. Am mostly glad I didn't really confide much in them but am disheartened about how soulless they are and lacking in self-respect and loyalty. And it's not about being high and mighty/holier than thou but seriously some of the stuff is so below board... although, that seems to be everywhere I turn. See how it all plays out- maybe there's something that I'm missing.

Packed and ready... now just have to make through this last little bit of work and then it's off to Montreal for the flight to Rome!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!

Last night was Gavin's birthday dinner. His birthday's not until tomorrow but last night was the night that most people could make for a dinner outing. I met shortly after work and we went to the restaurant together. He had chosen Flying Piggy's and it was meh. Not impressed with it at all- just ho-hum Italian. The pasta itself was good since it was fresh-made on-site but the sauce and such was bland. Diane and I decided to actually walk to the restaurant- a nice 5km walk. Both kind of itching for exercise and Darren said he'd take us back so that didn't suck. It was mostly people from Ultimate and just generally a tame night overall. Gavin was late arriving to his own dinner because he got caught up uploading pics... yes... It was all right though. Darren wound up picking up my tab which was took me by surprise. Thanked him about a zillion times. Things wrapped up early-ish and Darren drove me and Diane back downtown.

Got home and threw in a last load of laundry so that everything I want to pack is clean. But oops because I totally forgot to throw my jeans in with that load. Meh. I gathered everything I want to take and folded it neatly into a pile next to the backpack- and now tonight I actually have to start stuffing the backpack and make sure I have enough room for what I want to take. It was looking fairly reasonable... like I'd have space to spare so here's hoping!!

Work's been going slowly today. I met Corinne for lunch and we had a bit more of a chance to catch up since we've just been missing each other left, right and centre lately! Definitely good to talk to her and looks like I'm enlisted to help her move when I get back into town which suits me just fine.

Just have to get through work tomorrow and then all clear for Italy!!!!!!!!!! eeeeeeeeeeeee!

So the weekend was both busy and slow all at once...

Friday night was mainly uneventful. Lots of back and forth chatting with Diane on the phone and also with George. I heard from Simon at about 11pm- letting me know that he got into town ok and they were just at Kevin's on Lees and that he'd call me when they headed to Elgin. Felt a little bit silly after that waiting around for a call back... just that o...k... I am spending my evening now waiting by a phone. Wow. Just when I had given up on hearing from them at all the phone did ring and they were on their way to Hooley's. Simon asked if I could meet them in front in 10 minutes so I threw on some clothes and headed on out. I cut down Gilmour and when I turned the corner I did catch a glimpse of Simon through all the people there. He came up to me immediately and gave me a big hug. He asked me if I knew if there was a bank machine closeby so we headed to the Zesty market. I completely walked by Adam without noticing it was him but he stopped us and started teasing me about ignoring him. Zesty market, bank machine and lots of talking. Talking about our trips and also the trip I'm about to go on. Go back to outfront of Hooley's. Kevin gave me a high five- stuck out his hand sideways through a bunch of people to reach me so hit that and laughed with a that was confusing- he said nothing confusing about it, just a high-five... which I just responded to as through the crowd of people silliness. Ok! Anyways! Into the bar eventually we all go- Adam, Trevor, Kevin, Sarah, another Sarah, and some others eventually showed up. Off to the bar for drinks- I skipped on the drinks since I was helping Diane move the next morning. The boys go for Jagerbombs. Go off to the dancefloor to join up dancing with Trev, Adam, Sarah etc. Sarah takes my jacket and purse from me and plonks them on the floor next to her stuff. And we proceed to do the artful dance around purses. Much dancing and moving around. Chatting to Trevor about girls he should be hitting on and making fun of him in general. Dancing around with Adam too. Kevin and Sarah wandering off- I thought they'd left but once we left the bar there they were. Other Sarah also disappearing- but France joining in and some other guy. France moving our stuff off to this chair on the side. Eventually it's past 2am and we do finally drift out of the bar.

Hanging out on the street and talking to people. There seems to be something going on- past issue and people they didn't want to see but this is where Kevin and the rest have wound up. I'm talking to Adam when France comes up to me and asks me why am I over here and Simon over there as she points to him. I laugh and tell her it's all good- he hasn't seen his friends in awhile and that Simon will come over to me when he's done. So I ask her how she knows Simon and it's just from camping back in May. Anyways, she does wind up calling Simon over and the three of us talk for bit and now the group starts drifting down Elgin. Simon walks with me and more talking about Costa Rica- camping out, taking the tent not worth it, climbing the volcano, ziplining, times at hostels and people he's met. I talked about Israel and the Dead Sea experience with him- the heat of Tel-Aviv and that it's not really a dry city because it's close to the sea. I mentioned about me and Bella and holiday smoking. It was definitely good to see him again. Talked a lot before calling it a night.

Saturday was spent moving Diane. George and I got to her Riverside place at about 11:15am. Gavin and Darren were already there and the start of things had already been loaded. We took a load down and I back my car up next to the truck for smaller stuff. Her friend Marc also came to help. But really she didn't have a lot of stuff- since she'd been piece by piece moving during the week- and she and I had done a car load just a few days ago with the heavy stuff. So around 12pm we drove over to her new place downtown. I got there first and hurriedly unloaded my car of stuff in front of her building- only to run into her mom now who was going to help with elevators/doors... on the weekend you can't reserve the elevator for moving... logical, no? With all of us it took no time to get things upstairs. We set up her apartment as best we could. It looks good- lots of work ahead with unpacking but another crisis put aside. Then we all split up for a bit while Diane, Gavin and Darren returned the trailer. As a treat Diane took us all out for Vietnamese food on Bank St. It was definitely good! Although Gavin had a bit of drama queen moment over facebook later that night claiming 'inexpensive' Vietnamese food made him sick... curious when the rest of us were fine...

After all that I went home and collapsed for awhile before taking care of laundry and other fun things. George and Marc convinced me to go out with them in the evening so hit up the dirty Oak for a bit. Diane was at a bachelorette and we had discussed meeting up later. I borrowed Marc's phone and actually texted Trevor to find out if he and Adam, Simon, Kevin etc. would be coming downtown. He was still in the west end and the evening undecided. We went and met up with Diane at Hooley's around 11pm- but the party was moving locations and she didn't want to stick with it. I called Trevor and he said that they were just going to Kevin's to play poker- asked if anything else would be going on- but nothing crazy. He did say we could come and chill there. So the four of us went back to Diane's and she drove us to Lees. So here was the kind of funny thing... we get there and we get in because people are leaving so I call Trevor and ask which apartment- told that it's apt *22 and that the door will be open. Get up there and out of the elevator and start to go right but the apt numbers don't go to 22 on that side so back to the middle- read sign again and on the other side they also don't go up to 22? what? Ok, then we're like O....K... door's supposed to be open and we can hear noise so start walking and the first door on the left is 22? WTF! Seriously! Go in and sit down. Diane and Marc joined in on the game. I mostly talked with Trevor and Adam. Simon was a bit quiet. We didn't stay super long- maybe an hour or so? When we left everyone decided to go downstairs for a smoke break. Slowly got up and drifted to the elevators. I waited for Trevor and so Simon stuck back to talk to me a bit. I wished Simon a safe drive back to school. Adam came over to me and wished me a good trip to Italy and that's when I pointed to Diane in the car and said that I was going with her. So Adam then knocked on her window and when she rolled it down he also wished her a nice trip. Adam has the gentleman thing down but at the same time he can be such a jerk... so player-player indeed... that was about that though.

Sunday morning Diane called to see if I wanted to go to Ultimate breakfast but I passed since I was meeting Pietro instead. I picked up Pietro and we went back to Baker St Cafe for breakfast... since one of the big draws of Sunflower is sitting outside and smoking and it was raining which meant that wouldn't work- it was Baker St. Breakfast there was still awesome!!! Spent the whole time re-hashing our weekends. Afterwards, we went and did exciting (not really) shopping around to get some errands done before I went home. I really just vegged in the afternoon though. It was rainy and gray outside so none too appealing. Bella dropped off her backpack and straightener for my trip which was much appreciated. She was chillin' with Lorne because he sprained his ankle so she couldn't stay. I wished her a good afternoon and to tell Lorne that I hope he feels better which surprised her. Meh. Diane came over later when she was through babysitting and we watched Entourage together. Then debating over going to Gavin's birthday dinner on Tuesday- not a fan of the chosen restaurant and other tactless behaviour courtesy of Gavin that weekend. In the end though, we are going to go... it was moved up in part because of us so yaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Ah well.

Yom Kippur today...just more than 3/4s of the way through fasting... but violating Yom Kippur by being online...

So, I met up with Nolan last night for drinks. I was a bit nervous about seeing him because I really only met him in passing and I didn't know what was up with him adamantly wanting to hang out and all that. Just some mild social anxiety about the eeeeeeeeeeee awkward possibility... But in the end nothing to worry about- we got along rather fantastically!

I met him at the dirty Oak last night- I was a bit late and he was actually waiting outside when I got there. Got in and grabbed a table on the bar side and just started chatting away. He was all over the place with different stories and whatnot. It was crazy. He reminds me a bit of Jaaaaaaaaaaaason from my Call The Office days- in looks and in behaviour actually- it was a bit unexpected. We hung out at the bar for probably 4 hours or so- conversation all over the place. Had the awesome political discussion- he's taking PoliSci now- and it seems we share a hate for the theory class. All over the map with thoughts and discussion. He asked me what kind of music I was into which spawned another discussion altogether as soon as I responded punk and he high-fived me. To which I then asked why we weren't at the Bouncing Souls show instead! Close to midnight I cut things short since all I've had this week are late nights and I had hoped to get a bit more sleep last night. He wound up walking me home since it was along the way and that was that. I'll try and go for drinks again with him before leaving next week but if not then I'm sure when I get back we can arrange something.

I had an e-mail from Simon earlier this week letting me know that he was coming into town this weekend and asking to hang out- so I wrote back and told him that I'd be down with that and to call me. He just dropped me a line now before he hit the road for that exciting 7.5hr drive to Ottawa- totally cute e-mail in French to let me know that he will be calling me tonight as soon as he knows whereabouts in the market he and his buddies are heading. Tonight should prove to be a fun evening!

Tomorrow is the continuing excitement that is helping Diane move! Team moving should go on for a few hours and the who knows??

Trip planning is coming along swimmingly. Accommodations have been tentatively sorted- knock wood! I must see Bella sometime in the next few days so that I can pick up her straightener and her backpack that she is kindly lending me for this trip. And team laundry will also have to make an appearance this weekend. I can't believe that I'm already leaving for travels again so soon! Eeeeeeeeee!

Definitely on an upswing now...

So things have been going for me pretty steadily lately. I got back from holidays a few weeks ago to depressingly return to my old job- made better by the fact that I'm still being assigned the writing work that I love and my latest privacy course started. I have started to apply to other jobs... slowly right now though because I want to finish certification first but figured I'd test the waters.

Been a busy couple of days though. Yesterday was crazy power moving with Diane. I went to her place right after work and we headed to her parents' place to pick up stuff she had there- crammed it into my car then over to her new apartment. Crazy fast unload and some random girls held the elevator for us which was awesome and made things much easier. Then Pietro came to join us as we went to Diane's old place to get her enormous TV and shelf which is what we had enlisted Pietro for... our manpower for the evening. So Pietro and Joe (he'd taken over Diane's old apartment) loaded her stuff into my car and they drove on over while Diane and I race walked the few blocks to meet them there... since stuff plus us wouldn't fit in the car. More speedy unloading and then Diane and I took off to watch some friends play ultimate. Ultimate game was good- pretty close but the GLAD team lost... boo! Diane, Darren, Grant and I headed out afterwards for some delicious greasiness at Perkins. A lot of talk about Gavin and his weirdness/quirkiness. I don't know what to make of him really... not that there's really anything to make of him but it's interesting how conversation about his is generated. Stuffed myself silly and then did some of the chauffeuring duties... well Grant and Diane and then Diane took Darren home.

Tuesday was a bit of catching up with Tiff and Tim- and Maggie came out with us too. All met up at my house and then we just opted for James St Pub since it was so pleasant outside and we could actually enjoy the patio... where for a weird change I was the bad influence and had Tim and Maggie smoking with me and my holiday pack... just about done... except that I'm about to take off on holidays again... hmmmm... It was an all right night- wrapped up early for the most part and then when I walked Maggie up Bank St to go catch the bus who should I run into but Jay! Craziness! Been almost 5 months since we last saw each other. He came with me to drop Maggie off at the bus stop and she had a bus almost right away which was good. Jay and I spent the time catching- we took a walk down to the canal and sat down just chatting it up like before. Eventually we headed back to his place and just watched some DVDs. He's doing really well now- it was so good to see that. And it looks like the worst is over and I might be seeing him again soon... ooooh!

Tonight is drinks with Nolan.... which should be interesting... I'm curious to know why he's so adamant about meeting up right now... hopefully the mystery will be solved tonight!

Otherwise, I've been busy trip planning with Diane- as it looks like we are heading off to Italy next week for a couple of weeks! eeeeeeeeeeee! So exciting!! hehe, and completely logical since I just got back from holidays... ah well! good times!

First part of vacation in Israel... Started to create an album... just click on the pic...

So it was an exciting Westfest type of weekend. Friday after work I met Tim, Tiff and Christine for some ESD deliciousness. Cross-border shopping plans discussed and good times had by all. Hung out with Tim for a little bit afterwards catching up on stuff. Then it was home time to drop off all my work gear, watch the beginning of the Pens/Wings game (YAY PENS!!) and then turn around and head out to meet Pietro for Westfest. Mixed up some gin and tonic for my water bottle, put on my headphones and caught the bus to Tunneys. Pietro was already waiting for me when we got there because for some reason it took at least 15 mins for a bus to take me from downtown to Tunneys... booooooooo! Why must OC suck for the few times that I take it... Anyways, we took a leisurely walk through Westboro- thought we'd manage to get to the LCBO before closing to get some more liquor to re-fill my water bottle... because really I'm a classy lassy like that... or really, it's an outdoor festival and I don't feel like paying highway robbery prices for my plastic cup of beer... Unfortunately we missed getting to the LCBO in time. We proceeded onto Westfest and to see Danny Michel. Awesome times! He was playing with a backup band- which doesn't happen often. About halfway through the show John George found me. He was totally hammered- very amusing. So he and his friends hung out with us for the rest of the show. Afterwards, we tried to figure out what to do next and they were heading downtown to Oz for a friend's birthday so we passed on that. We meandered back on through Westboro and wound up at the Carleton Tavern for some quarts and wings. A nice relaxed night. Caught the bus back downtown at 2am and finally home and bed.

Saturday I finished up working on my paper for the atip course- RFID technology and privacy implications. Writing the paper just made me even more paranoid about having no privacy... I went out for coffee and walking with George to unwind a bit after. And then it was Westfest part two. Bussed it out to Westboro and met Pietro at Tunneys again. Walked our way up into Westboro and cut up Gilchrist to get to Wellington... just to walk by Dave's house. And he and Amy were sitting outside with pussies in their laps... Quick hellos but kept on booting it with Pietro to catch the LCBO before close this time. Managed to get there with all of ten minutes to spare so picked out some drinks and the went over to the Superstore for something to eat and then we slowly walked through all the Westfest fun! Meandered on through the crowd til we got to the park where the music was and again drifted in through the beer tent side and found somewhere to sit and hang out. Slowly drinking the evening way. We left a little bit before Prairie Oyster finished since I had to find some, uh, facilities but then we did come back through to right about where we were to see the encore. It was like a total flashback of when I was there with Jay last year. Odd deja vu feeling. After the show was over we walked back up through Westboro- stopped at the Candy Store to see if there was anything tasty but alas no... so then we hopped the bus downtown to kick it at the James Street Pub watching UFC. Good times had by all!

Sunday was just as exciting with breakfast at Baker Street in Westboro... love that place so much! Leftover Kahlua was poured into morning coffee... mmm... tasty. Saw the familia in the afternoon for coffee at Morala and walking around the Glebe...

Now for the excitement of this week.... ooooooooooooh...aaaaaaaaaaaaah... Going to kick it at the gym today since I've been so lazy lately. Need the activity of it.

Oh, el jay, how I've neglected you...hehe.

I was having this stupid problem with upgrading my version of flash and ubuntu over the last few days and I finally sat down and examined it and voila a few minutes later after reading a few forum posts voila all better- last version wasn't overridden by the new one so had to go back and manually remove it. Buh. At least now all is functional and Songbird isn't crashing on me anymore :)

Got a bit of a sudden good surprise at work today when I got copied on an e-mail to HR- I'm starting my acting position next week. Haha, love how this was only vaguely discussed with me and things weren't really for sure or anything and then suddenly bam! E-mail indicating paperwork is being requested. Bit of a panic because I'm planning vacation at the end of the acting and didn't know if it would be all right since I'll be replacing someone who is already on vacation but evidently all is going to be all right.

So, yesterday I discovered my new favourite summer sport: wakeboarding! Holy friggin' awesome!! I got recruited to boating last Sunday by Gavin and so this Sunday was the first time out for a bunch of us. It was spotty weather- so not awesome but the rain wasn't too terrible. I got a go at it in the afternoon. First I got all outfitted in a drysuit since the lake wasn't really warm yet... and then kick in the rain as nice and steady... A quick lesson from Gavin on the back of the boat about how to pull myself up and what to do etc. And the boom! In the water and grab the line and yell ready- slack of the rope all pulled and off we go. Got up on the first try :) Then down... Start over and up and the bam! Eat the lake. hahaha. Then my runs started to smooth and get longer. So much fun :) Standing up immediately is credited to years of snowboarding. Apparently that's the hardest part which was evidenced by Melanie who also had her first go at wakeboarding after me. She put up a valiant effort but eventually had her fill of trying to get up. And of course once we were all done with wakeboarding and hydrofoiling and were bringing the boat back to the marina- out came the sun. Boooooo! hahaha. Oh, well. I'm quite certain there will be more boating in my future... My arms are definitely feeling a bit sore from everything yesterday and I apparently managed to do something to my left ankle because it has been very slightly swollen all day.... seems about fine now but that was a bit of a mystery.

I got an e-mail from Simon today which was a super nice surprise... I don't know. I wasn't sure I'd hear from him or not. I mean I know we spoke on Friday and he joked that I'd get drunk dials from him in Costa Rica and that he would e-mail me but I don't know, I just wrote it off and well well well! So the trip is off to a good start for him...

And that's how it goes.

So let's see here... this should be some kind of update but really meh... I'm at work now and bored and about a third of the unit did not make it in today because of the lovely snow that we've been blanketed with over the last day and a half- somewhere around 35 centimetres I think... Oh and that pesky transit strike that took hold at midnight.

Seriously though I just look out my office window at that powder and want to boot it home to grab my snowboard and hit that fresh powder.... perfect snow for boarding.... Jay Peak is going to be sweet in a couple of weeks. I shall hit some boarding this weekend though... nothing better to procrastinate unpacking with than not being at home....

And then there's that pesky OC Transpo strike... Well what can I say? I'm quite happy to be that stereotypical yuppie at this point. The strike just doesn't touch me. I walk to work and to most places and then have the car for those occasions when necessary. However, just because it doesn't touch me directly does not mean that it doesn't piss the fuck out of me! Seriously! WTF? Let's walk off the job in December on the brink of a snowstorm... ok, granted, the snowstorm wasn't their fault... (or was it? Divine retribution? meh?) where 370, 000 people ride the bus weekly... which when Ottawa-Gatineau is at something like 1.2 million in population represents a huge amount of people who are screwed. It's winter (ok, not officially til Dec.21 but for all intents and purposes- the snow on the ground says otherwise). It's Canada. The alternatives to public transit at this time of year really don't amount to much...