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today i did some more christmas shopping. and by christmas shopping, i mean i bought gerry some more presents. until this weekend i had some coffee for his parents sent here by rachel, from tim horton's, a bodum for them, and one present for gerry. all purchased last week. this weekend i got a secret snowflake present. umm... yup. that's about where i was with all this.

i'd love to list what i got for gerry today, but then he'd know. and that spoils the fun. needless to say, i hope it works out grand.

i either sprained or completely bruised or f'd up my finger somehow. in any case, it's killing me. could have been the heavy bags. i was going to sleep at my own house tonight (for the third time) but once i got to gerry's i was zonked. so i'm just going to sleep here. i just spent the evening wrapping christmas presents and chatting with sharon... that and teasing her about what her present is. mwah hah hah.

also new, msn for macs. i just put up a pic of me, and i don't know if you can send funny things like on the pc one, but it is new, and i have got my pic up there. test me out next time you see me online.

oh! it's my last week of training at work. eek! well, until we do travel training. i've decided (on the advice of one my trainers) to not go for the customer service job being offered. she thinks i'll be making heaps of cash so i shouldn't lose that opportunity by going into a job like customer service where the pay is the same as taking calls, but you don't get any extra money.

i almost got to take my first call. but no one called while i was listening. the woman i was listening in on calls with was like: here, why don't you take a call. so after freaking out, i said okay, and then no one called before her break, which really was only in the space of 4 minutes, but still, it would have been great to get that first call out of the way.

synchronised safety

i forgot the funniest part of the whole trip.

on the plane last night the steward and stewardesses were doing the safety routine and it was f'ing hilarious because they were literally in synch.

they pulled the mask in demonstration exactly twice, and when they were pointing to the exits, it was just so perfectly in synch it was amazing. i loved it. i suggest that they become synchronised swimmers cause they're already really good at doing it out of the water... they just need to learn the routine IN the water. it would be amazing.

i loved the show.

everybody was kung foo fighting

okay, i was just writing a mass emails about london. something is f'ing up with gmail. weird. anyway, currently there will be no mass emailing. there will however be this gem of a blog.

last friday gerry and i went to see the foo fighters in london. other than a slight panic attack with the whole flying thing (i have no idea how i managed to get to ireland) things went well.

friday night we got to london and basically went to bed.

saturday we went to portobello (yeah, believe it) market and shop shop shopped. we also went to oxford circus, hamley's (a giant toy store where gerry could barely control himself, and there was a cool Narnia staircase) and then went to the foo fighters concert. if i had known the foo were playing in such a big stadium, i wouldn't have booked the tickets in the summer, but it ended up being better than other stadium concerts, so it was fun. it's weird to think of where i am now and where i was in the summer when trying to decide if i should even get the tickets because who knows what'll have happened at this point. our feet were sooooo brutally killing us at this point. well... my feet were, and i think gerry's legs might have been. don't ask.

sunday (lower extremities still killing) we did more shopping and even saw the science museum (and an imax film, walking on the moon) and went on the london eye. i also bought a toque and arm warmers (they are knitted and crocheted, and have fleece lining so they don't itch) because it was so f'ing freezing there i was almost crying. anyway, it was lovely. we then went to the airport and got home (despite me thinking we were going to die while landing).

today i did not feel like doing my last role-playing test for work. i totally f'd up, but swindled a pretty good mark. i have no idea how. seriously. anyway, one more written test and training will be mostly done. there are a couple of spots that have opened up in a more admin position, and i'm thinking of applying for them. usually you need to be there a min. of 6 months before, but they're opening it up to the training class too. so there's less money involved, but the hours are way better (m-f nothing later than 6 i think).

oh! we're doing secret snowflake at work, and i found this adorable little over the shoulder bag made out of red vinyl in london. the max was €5 but i spent £5. but i found a loop hole. everyone calls euros and pounds quid. so basically, i spent 5 quid! it was way too cute to resist. i think i'm going to introduce the stewart gift steal to my class. i think they'll like it.

i'm sort of resisting it feeling like christmas, i kind of want it to, but it kinda makes me sad at the same time. goals include: holding it together at the gainford house, getting through the season, and having some fun with it too. wish me luck.

london calling

this evening we leave for london! yay!

tonight we'll get in and probably go straight to bed.

tomorrow will involve hyde park market, shopping and probably some museuming. tomorrow night will be the foo fighters.

sunday we will probably go shopping some more and then we return to cork.

it's been a few years since i was last in england, so despite knowing that i don't want to live there, it will be a nice return. especially since i spent so much time in london when i was at the castle. i want to go back to some of my favourite places, including the tate modern. i'd love to see another royal shakespeare company production, but there isn't time for that, with work and christmas and such.

anyway, london's only 45mins on the plane, so i'm sure it will be grand.

(i hope it's not any kind of sign to have spelled "london's" as "london't". eek.)

more testes

we've been having tonnes of tests and quizzes at work. it's totally like being in a class. which is fine... i had been thinking of taking a class while here.

sunday night gerry helped me study for my region codes (you need to know them when you're searching for a resort for someone). anyway, i'm doing well on all of the tests, but the last three role-plays i've had the guy. OHMYGOSH. i hate him. he takes off marks and then when you're like why did i lose a mark for that, we were told that if you don't book something for a person you don't need to offer to transfer them to a travel specialist. his answer? well, you still did really well, so it doesn't matter. as if! doesn't he know that he is destroying my chances of having perfect scores!!! okay okay, 98% isn't bad, but let's face it, it's no 100%. AND he's so non-challant about it. JERK!

oh another note, i went to the gym today. now my arms and legs and abs are sore. it was a good workout. there's a stronger shower in there too, so i'm excited to use them everyday. i think i have a crush on the stronger showers.

i've had a bit of contact with b.c. in the past couple of days. lately (since i started work) it's been fairly minimal, much like my blogs. but it was really really nice to touch base. sometimes i love ireland and think that i'm really lucky to have fluked out on a choice. sometimes i hate it and wonder what the f i'm doing here, and can't wait to get back to b.c.. if i was home, i'd probably want to be back. :o) grass and green.

i am fairly desperate to play catan or carca. but since i'll be in london this weekend, i doubt i'll get a chance until more solidly holiday times... even then, i think we're going to monaghan almost the whole time... oh! maybe new year's day a game can be set up... and maybe i'll borrow gerry's computer and we can play wancatan! whoot! let me know if you're interested.

the lion, the witch and the wardrobe

we saw the first episode of the chronicles of naria tonight. it was amazing. great. grand. fun.

see it.

christmas in cork

last night gerry and i had christmas dinner for some of his friends and for his housemates. gerry's department was the turkey (chicken), ham, meat stuffing and roasted potatoes. i was in charge of dessert, veggie stuffing and mashed potatoes. it went really well. i think people left over-full and having had a good time.

work was busy this week. we had two tests. both of which went well for me. but the girl beside me failed one test (89% is a fail) and despite passing her retest, decided she didn't like it. which is fine, but she was really nice. i will miss her. i think we're going to get together for drinks after our last day before we leave for christmas... we're all looking forward to that day. no more tests. and we'll have been paid. so it's gonna be sweet.

my house is still freezing, and other than two nights, i've been staying at gerry's. i did meet one more of my housemates on friday. until then, i had only met the guy from poland... whose name i can't understand, so i've mostly been refering to him as my housemate, cause he was the only one i knew. *laugh* i'll be meeting the other guy after christmas, i think he's gone to do some training and then home. so he won't be back until then.

to remedy the cold house problem, and the not being able to sleep because it's so cold, i've bought a heating blanket that you can sleep on all night. it was a recommendation from one of the ladies in my class. i haven't tested it out yet, cause i got it on thursday. but i'm sure some time this week i will.

i saw transporter 2 during the week. i can't remember the day. it was good. a total action movie... like, don't go in thinking it will be realistic, but i think it was great. fun. and that guy is über hot.

we're tossing around the idea of seeing narnia tonight. i really really want to see it. i've heard great things, and what i've seen looks great.

i've been trying to blog at work, but the computers we're allowed to use for internet have not been allowing me to blog. i'm working on it, but so far, i can only blog at gerry's. and i don't think i can get internet at my house, cause we don't have a phone. e veryone and their grandma has a cell phone, so no one has land lines really. sorry, i've been slack, i'll try to be more consistent int he future. email works, just so you know. :o)

S-M-R-T

yesterday we were informed that our class was going to have the test in the afternoon that we had earlier been told was going to happen on monday. i admit, i was a bit nervous... my class hadn't been able to practise taking calls while really being on the phone yet because we got moved into a classroom without phones. anyway, we were going to be tested in a couple of hours. i figured i'd be fine, cause really, how hard can it be? so we got back after lunch and a girl in my class was like: you're going to be first. two seconds later a trainer came in and was like: ursula, you're first. burn. anyway, i did the call and the b freaked me out by asking me to do something that we hadn't been taught yet. i gave her the info and was like, i'll do that for you now if you like. i guess she realised that we couldn't do that yet, so she changed her mind. obviously i was like: crap... i think i didn't do so well.

so we got our marks, and my tester was like: you did it perfectly! you sounded so calm and if i didn't know better i would have said you'd been working here for years! i got 100% and am feelin' grand!

i had been talking to this guy about the test earlier and he said that he bets people will be like: what did you get? what did you get? i said i don't think people do that after highschool. clearly i was wrong. the oldest guy in the class was the worst! but i wouldn't tell him what i got. i did however say: how many people do you think got 100 out of 50? you know, like 200%? because i'm evil.

i can't believe it's saturday. finally. tonight's my christmas party. last night was gerry's scuba club's christmas party, at the dog race track. i've never seen dog's race before. i lost every time. luckily i was only betting 2 euros at a time. gerry however won almost every time. i can't believe it! it's amazing!

i hope i win at my staff party tonight. you win vouchers for free vacations. :o)

i liked being semi-retired

i woke up this morning and immediately asked gerry why he can't get two jobs and let me go back to being semi-retired. i mentioned that i would be more than happy to bake him cookies, in the house that one of his jobs has afforded us to live in. he simply replied that i'm supposed to be moved up to management in the next 3 months and be supporting him... while he doesn't make cookies. fair comment, but totally *not* what would happen! :o)

i'm on day four of training. it's been boring as hell. i realise that most training is, but this has been particularly bad. we've had days where there have been more breaks than class time. and the 'review' time is really more like, review and then chat... i am slowly learning people's names. i'm so brutal at that, but with all the breaks, that's been a bit easier.

i do still plan to go to the staff christmas party. there are wicked prizes that i plan to win. i already want to go on vacation, and looking through those vacation books is not making it easier. it's the worst kind of punishment, because we're all bored out of our heads, looking at these gorgeous places to visit.

last night gerry made me dinner and then we went to jim and tara's for cards and drinking. it was really really hard to get out of bed this morning... hence my little: 'i hate not being semi-retired' tantrum. i could have still been a bitter about the thrashing jim and gerry gave tara and me at cribbage. jim and gerry play better drunk. tara and i don't. :o)

today, after work, we're going to meet in town and shop for a duvet and some bedding for my big move on sunday. (and maybe some black shoes for the christmas party tomorrow night) finally, i will not be living out of a suitcase. and finally, i can not be worried about my shit taking up too much space in gerry's room... to be fair, he's been totally nice and easy-going about it, but i'm sure it'll be nice for him to not have the three bags that don't match today's clothes under his desk.

back home

okay, i'm not really home, and i'm not just back. gerry and i got back to his place on sunday night. i was a hit with his family... at least that's what i think. i couldn't understand his dad more than 10% of the time and was mostly trying to piece together a few random words and make up my own comments. sometimes i was right, sometimes i was wrong. sometimes i just didn't answer.

his family was lovely. oh! i think it was saturday that i used the word grand. and today i said it was a day for the dogs.

here's a picture of my bag that we picked out on thursday, except mine's in chocolate brown. i also got to meet sinead for the first time, and sinead and conor's darling son, David Patrick (aka DP). oh! and it snowed on friday morning. but it didn't last until gerry got back to the house, so i couldn't kick his ass canadian style at a snowball fight. we did have a great dinner, complete with squash buttered and cooked with maple syrup; all vegetarian, and no mushrooms.

saturday we went to monaghan and went to the engagement party for gerry's brother, thomas and amanda. we got them cranium and mindtrap as a present.

sunday it was back to cork via every roadworks zone possible. BUT i did drive. gerry is either totally crazy, or just super nice and supportive. cause he was like, oh want to try driving? so i did. there was only one time when i turned right that i started driving on the right-hand side of the road and he was like, ummm... otherside. so basically it went well. *laugh* in other words, we are both still alive and the car wasn't damaged in any way.

oh, we were going to stop at a house for me, at 8pm, but there was a text left at 7.47 from that bitch sandra saying the room was taken. i was so frustrated with looking for a place, that last night when i saw a decent, as in: clean and smoke-free house i told the land lord, i'd take it. so as of saturday/sunday i live with three boys that i don't know, but who appear to be tidy, rarely home, and non-smokers. and if i ever meet sandra i will be mean to her. bitch.

today was day two of training. my next blog will be bitching about the bus service. but i wanted to let you know that i did start my job, and it's going well.

yesterday was my birthday and it was grand

i was a bit worried that i might end up a bit emotional and stuff, being away from home, and it being the first birthday without my mom's phone call singing me happy birthday. but it turned out to be great. better than i had hoped even.

i got lovely lovely phone calls, and lovely lovely emails, and even a lovely lovely haiku. presents, which really are the least important part, i like the phone calls and emails best, but are still super great and fun include a peanut butter daisies from danielle, a bath set with things i chose not to bring to ireland, for space reasons (like a loofah, and a bath puff) from jim and tara, a cute cheese serving set from Mam, and from gerry, a hot water bottle that fits inside sylvester the cat, and a furla bag *yay*, to be picked out today in dublin at dundrum (or something) centre. all very nice.

we went out for cocktails (my first cosmo in ireland) and then for dinner at cafe paradiso. 4 out of 7 people loved it. 3 probably wouldn't return. i wish i had had enough room in my belly for dessert, but there was no way i was going to be able to eat another bite. it was delicious.

oh, and for lunch, gerry took me to the gallery for lunch and art viewing. very nice. then we ran into his boss and co-worker and i apparently told his boss off for the hours gerry works. i'd guess he hears it all of the time from his wife, because he didn't seem surprised at what i was saying.

all in all, a wonderful day. thanks everyone!

today we leave for dublin, and then to carrick for gerry's brother's engagement party. note to self, do not mention gerry's snoring, or jokes about babies. or will come back to cork married.

some pics

this is a pic from germany, when anne and i went to the hockey game for the german cup and raised some hell in the usa section.



cork is trying to deal with their gum issue. i think they should deal with their spit issue. it's everywhere.



the corner where i meet people for lunch, shopping and havoc.



the view back to where i stand, in the shopping district.



cork is the cultural capital of the EU for 2005. just ask budweiser.



i really like the view as you walk over the bridges. the water's nice, and everytime i walk over one of the bridges, i think: yeah, this is great.

(this pic is coming, it's just taking forever to upload).

pizza pizza

last night i made dinner for the house.

i made pizza and fixed up a salad. the pizza turned out well. actually, really really well, considering the second one had to be cooked at an angle because the pan wouldn't fit into the oven. i'm not even talking about a big pan here. i bought the smallest one that looked decent enough to use... thinking it could be used for other things as well. the tray's probably 13 inches square. maybe that big. and no, no, that won't fit! i was pissed!!!

luckily they're getting a new stove, so it's not a huge deal that some of the sauce cooked off the pizza. the first pizza cooked well, the second one would have turned out better if it hadn't been cooked at a 45 degree angle. that said... it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

oh, when i was downtown yesterday i went back to brown thomas to visit my bag, and look at shoes. and go to clinique. i got a liquid face wash from clinique, so i can transport it easily, although i did almost buy these tiny little travel bars, which come with a tiny little travel case. it's just the bars don't have time to dry out that well, when traveling. and i tried on some shoes that were good, but not perfect.

across the street, i bought a marie claire to help me celebrate my do-nothing day tomorrow.

12 hours 40 minutes and counting!!!

YAY! it's almost my birthday.

it is almost time for me to move into my last year of the 20's. i'm pretty excited about putting my 28th year behind me. i will fully admit to some wonderful things happening in that time... i mean, i wouldn't be where i am if not. but i am so glad to be putting that shit year behind me, it's crazy. and this year is supposed to (according to fortune teller ana) be the best year of my life. now, if that doesn't get someone excited about a birthday, and soon after a new calendar year, i don't know what would!

word on the street is that a woman's 30's are supposed to be fantastic. and in time, it will come. i'm not worried about turning 30 (once you get past 25, it's a pretty common topic at birthday time, i have a feeling it will be even more prevelant at 29). i don't even care about the number. i feel like i deserve 30! if i was any younger, i would not be the person i am today... and mostly i'm okay with that person. i will always be a project to be worked on, but nirvana's not an easy journey.

birthday plans
gerry's taken tomorrow off and we've plans to go to cafe paradiso with some of his friends who are kind enough to join in the festivities. it's a gourmet vegetarian restaurant. i've checked out the menu and it looks great. i'm so excited about great vegetarian food! i made pizza last night, but that deserves its own blog entry. also, i get breakfast in bed, and i don't mean the chocolates that danielle sent me... they'll be gone at 12.04 am. :o) otherwise, it will be mostly a day of relaxing. maybe we'll go downtown, if we feel like it. maybe not. on thursday we're going to dublin and we will go shopping there. to the posh mall. and i think we're staying at conor and sinead's. on saturday we're going to carrickmacross, for gerry's brother's engagement party. i have a good feeling i'll have some blogs about that. there have been comments about my inability to understand gerry's father, so we've come up with a signal system, but i won't know if gerry's taking the piss out of me, or genuinely helping... it's pretty much a gamble either way.

stay tuned.

the epitome of self-control

i'm not supposed to open the gift from danielle until my birthday. good thing she said something, cause, in case you haven't read the previous couple of entries, i was about to tear into that thing! instead, i am now practicing control that hasn't been seen since rocky 3.

so, it sits there. and i sit here.

i won breakfast in bed from gerry last night. but, total burn, he has nothing to eat here. we're going grocery shopping today, because i'm going to make pancakes with maple syrup tomorrow. buttermilk pancakes. with lots of maple syrup. and lots of butter. awwwwwww yeeeeaaaaahh!

i can't wait for tomorrow. maybe i should have pancakes for dinner instead... or supper, as it's called here.

i checked out martha for a recipe. and day-amn those buttermilk pancakes are looking good. i'm hungry.

gettin' paid

yesterday i went to a walk-in interview for a job that i had decided i wanted. i got the job fairly quickly. mary, the woman who interviewed me, adored me. and said as much. i think it helped that i spent so much time unpacking, trying on an outfit, packing, trying on something different, deciding that when i bought every item, i clearly hadn't thought about the other items for matching and style. and then decided on a pair of brown pants and burgandy top with three-quarter length sleeves. and brown shoes.

anyway, i basically had the job within like 5 minutes, and she ended up selling the job to me, and insisting that despite starting at an entry level, there would be a chance for me to move up, and that usually they want people to have 6 months experience before they move around in the company, but for someone like me, they make exceptions, although it would be great for me to get the experience and then apply for new positions. she showed me around the building, which has 2 free internet stations, a relaxing area, a cafeteria, a free gym, and basically no dress code. i get to go to work in jeans. :o) then she made me take the "are you a psychopath" computer test. she didn't give me the results of that. there was also a logic and maths component, which i would like to point out, i think i rocked.

what's this job? well, it's basically a call centre that people who have time shares call to book their time. you have to arrange it, or a suitable alternative, and then you try to up-sell them on getting the flight, car rental, etc. through you. easy peasy. did i mention the health care benefits are great? oh, and employees get 4 weeks holiday in a time-share of their choice.

to celebrate, gerry and i went out for dinner to another favourite restaurant. this one has more of an italian influence. it was quite nice. had some wine. then met up with his friend, rob, who is an american with a sometimes irish accent because he's been here for 2.5 years, and went to a pub where there was a fußbal tournament. however, we were all drunk enough and had waited way too long for it to start, and it was moving so slowly, that we decided home was a much better idea.

good times.

now i'm going to look at another house... this one gerry said is in a better location to get to work, and hopefully it's as nice as yesterday's.

hermione's not such a weird name

i'm coming across some gems, in my search for a house/job.

today's special name:

Gobnait

enjoy.

last night gerry and i went for japanese food. there were no rolls involved. gerry had a noodle dish, and i had a curry dish with rice and some breaded veggies. we also had edamame and veggie gyoza... which were the best gyoza i've ever had, strange, considering i hail from b.c.. it was kind of a modern japanese restaurant. you sit at a long shared table, that kind of thing.

it was really tasty and one of gerry's favourite restaurants, and i was not disappointed.

also not disappointing is that i have a package waiting for me at gerry's office. a package labeled CHOCOLATES!!! from a Danielle N. Barnes. chocolates + Danielle = PURDY'S!!! i'm gonna be sick tomorrow. i wonder if i'll be able to hold off not eating them all at once? it's a good thing they're not here, because i have that interview to go to, and i wouldn't want to have a tummy ache, just because i have no control. normally, having purdy's would equal calling danielle over for some cribbage/nintendo or a movie... but she's a bit far for that. so d, i hope you saved yourself some chocolates, so we can have an internet date, play some cribbage online, and eat some purdy's... maybe not together, but sort of.

speaking of cribbage... i skunked gerry last night. it was sweet because i needed 10 points to go out, and he counted first. i pegged the points. just. and tara gave me a brilliant, a cruel, but brilliant, idea for a bet. thanks tara.

gifting

both of my sisters have birthdays in november... as do i. we are born in proper order: november 7, is annemarie, november 19, is heidi, and i'm the 23rd... we were even named alphabetically. annemarie got some stuff for her house from ikea. heidi got a necklace, made/designed or all of the above in ireland. it was a recommendation from sharon. i can't remember what the name of the designer is...in fact, i would have liked to spend more time with it and examine it more, but i needed to send it to her asap. as it is, it will probably be at least a week late anyway. it's cool, it's silver and kind of looks like viney/firey hanging down bits. *lmao* ummm... great description, i know.

i did *not* visit my bag, because i think i need to not obssess and i should probably think about the options that chocolate brown present. i did however buy a pair of miu miu sunglasses. they were on sale, and as i mentioned to gerry on saturday as we were driving from shannon, i need new sunglasses. oh, and if you will recall, before i left vancouver a couple of months ago, i was trying to find some new ones. so there conor. :op and if you're not careful, i *won't* buy that furla, instead, i will fly danielle over here with the savings and have her beat you up, or just kick your ass at N64. how would that affect my karma? mwah hah hah!

an f'ing dilemma

the furla... i was talking to gerry about my day last night, and i'm willing to admit, despite being totally calm two seconds before... as soon as i started talking about having found the furlas and the guccis and the pradas, i got crazy excited. i might have to go back to visit it today. it really was special. maybe i should take a look for shoes to match. hmmm... maybe i'm in love with an orange bag. i hope i brought my brown turtleneck sweater... that would be sweet. oh, or if i brought my green one, that might work too... WARDROBE!!! maybe i should look at the furla store in dublin... they might have a chocolate brown bag. hmmm... so hard to know... should i hold out and see if there is a chocolate brown bag? is that more special, or just more functional? because really, i do have a special green furla. eek!!!

maybe i should wait. but maybe the orange is more umph. i will visit it again today... with shaz. but for now, i need to work on my resume.

p.s.

cheryl: totally fine... i got what you meant... no offence taken.

d: if you were here, or it was chocolate brown, it would be mine already... i already thought about that.

shopping in cork - furlas found!!!

today i went shopping in cork. it was hard. seriously. yesterday was really rough, but i'm going to discount that as an initiation day, and i was all out of whack from my sister's phone call (please see below) so i only bought earplugs.

i had much better success today! i can't remember the name of the store, but i found where they hide the furlas!!! and i found prada, and juicy and all the lovely lovely bags! but of course, most importantly, i found the furlas. and i almost bought this rust/burnt orange coloured bag. i think it would look nice with my charcoal grey, double breasted (buttons falling off...grr) peacoat. :oD i didn't buy it. but i will visit. in fact, if they had had it in chocolate brown, i would be hugging it right now, instead of blogging.

okay. i also found tissues at boots (on my fourth visit. seriously) after asking someone...they only had "man-sized" ones, which are larger than a 12 inch square. for real. they're more like towels, not tissues. but still, success. also found, nail clippers.

then i went to dunnes and got two hand towels and a packet of face cloths.

and i bought a newspaper with house and joblistings from the dude yelling: echo echo echo!!!

aw yeah!

then i came back to gerry's and cleaned the bathroom and did some dishes. also, a success.

no nap today

yesterday i had a really big nap. i think my recent tiredness has been a combined effort of a few things. shall i list them? oh, indeed.

• i think i'm a little homesick. no, okay, i really am. i've been gone from home for the right amount of time for it to have really set in.

• i really need to get back on the iron pills and the other things that rachel gave me. my near passing out instances have increased dramatically the past couple of days.

• i wish my sister didn't have gerry's number. she called yesterday, with an "emergency" but then couldn't be bothered to email/call back until today, after i sent her two emails, and two texts, all of which asked for clarification and for her to call me.

• heidi is making me crazy via email

• michael is stressing me out via details from my sisters

in other news, i went for lunch with gerry and his friend, jason, who is just returned and trying to recover from spain. the shopping deserves its own blog.

ireland-it's good craic

i got into to shannon airport on friday night... well, technically saturday morning, but whatever. gerry was there to pick me and my bags up.

we had a cute room at the hotel near the airport which was perfect because driving on the wrong side of the road that late while tired and not being able to negotiate those kind of changes in my head would have sucked. honestly... i've been having an abnormal amount of trouble with that anyway. for example...

after we packed up the suitcases in the car on saturday, gerry had the front left hand side door open for me... but the right hand side door had been left open (which is closer to where i was standing. he motioned for me to get in and i was like, uh, i'm not driving! he laughed and said i'd better get in on the other side unless i did want to drive. oops. right. that.

we talked about me getting an irish license, but i'm going to have to practice first... a lot.

saturday we stopped by jim, tara and her son, aaron's place for some cribbage and tea. i'm totally going to make cribbage the irish game of the year. gerry and i had bought jaffa cakes and butterscotch cookies when we grabbed some peppermint tea after breakkie in limerick. i'm happy i guessed that jaffa cakes might not be for me, and we got the back-up butterscotch cookies. jaffa cakes are pretty sick if you don't like dark chocolate and especially don't like orange with dark chocolate. i think that tara and i are going to have a continuing rivalry against the boys for cribbage. especially if i can keep getting breakfast in bed. :o) yes, yes... gerry and jim did end up winning the match. but i don't remember having to get out of bed to bring up orange juice, toast, and eggs.

that night, gerry and i went out for dinner in cork, and were going to go see a movie, but were too tired.

yesterday was a lazy day. after breakfast in bed, i enjoyed a nap. we watched some tv with one of gerry's housemates, his cousin, sharon. we saw beauty shop... which had some funny parts. let's leave it at that. then jim, tara and aaron came by and we went for dinner to zack's, in the downtown.

which brings me to today. it's 10.30 and i've spent the last + hour emailing/reading blogs/catching up in the internet world. i've got to shower and take the bus into cork. i'm meeting gerry for lunch. today is also when i start to look for my own place, and work on my resume for finding a job.

i've got some other pics i need to post... so maybe i'll take my camera in with me today and grab a couple pics of cork. if the weather holds. oh, and p.s. it's fricking cold here.

on my way to ireland

thanks tori.

i am on my way to ireland. i will land in about 11 hours.

and so it begins.

canada 4 - usa 1

i may be becoming prejudice. i think i'm starting to hate americans. just puttin' it out there.

tonight anne and i cashed in on her birthday present and went to the hockey game in mannheim.

we were basically the only canadians in an american/german section. i think we ended up converting a couple of germans though. there was one younger guy near us in a team canada jersey, but i don't think he's ever seen hockey, because he clearly didn't know that when canada scores, you're supposed to cheer and scream and hollah! *gosh* oh, and there were these two bitches with canucks suck, and puck those canucks posters that i think the camera guy was in love with because he kept going back to them. when the crowd would yell: U-S-A anne and i would yell SUCKS! after. that was good fun.

oh, and we painted our faces, i'll post a pic tomorrow.

for now, it's bed time.

in 24 hours i'll be in ireland. wowsa.

shaun of the dead in paris

i know why i had paris in my head... someone was telling a story about it last night. but how did these things all get connected? dampfkneudels, i swear it! or maybe the combo with the caffiene of iced tea.

last night/this morning i dreamt ian and i went to paris together. oh, and that my mom was in a hospital there...in fact, it was the hope hospital but in paris. yeah, okay, it was a *dream*. *gosh*

anyway, we visited her there in the day time, while trying to see the sites... but at night it became a different story. we had to go through the backrooms of stores trying to get away from the zombies, and our siteseeing was crazy. my sister heidi asked us if we'd seen the opera house, and i was like: yeah! of course! (i may have thought she was a zombie... or i was just irritated with her) we even went inside. and she was mad in a zombie way, so i knew that we had to get in there... i think to kill some zombies or something.

for some reason we borrowed my mom's truck (she hadn't had a truck in at least 6 years)... but when we parked it in the hospital parking lot, after visiting my mom, it had been stolen. so we tried to sort out a report at the front desk, but ian and i were in a really big hurry because we had zombies to kill, and sites to see. afterall, it was his first time in paris, and i wanted him to see everything.

i have no idea if it ended, but i woke up needing to pee. and being somewhat disoriented, jumped back into the bed, so no zombies could grab my ankles from under the bed.

hockey night in deutschland

tonight's the hockey game, canada vs. usa. i'm pretty excited about it, the tickets are meant to be good, so here's hoping we'll be able to see canada kicking the usa's butt all over town, really well. it also means that there will be a lot of obnoxious americans there. now, i'm saying that because in heidelberg there is a large population of american soldiers from the army base here. my experience, to date, has been that most are very obnoxious. i think it might connected with the military experience specifically, but it's hard to say. there is so much cheating on spouses, being loud in public, stating loudly that everything america does is the best, and barely any can speak more than a few words of german. i've met one guy that speaks a little bit. i think he's been here for three years.

unfortunately i sometimes find myself being thrown back 12 years around them. i'm constantly asking them not to say racist comments around me, and mostly they don't understand that saying something is "queer" or "gay" would often be seen as being homophobic. so i feel like i'm in a pretty defensive mode when the americans come over... there's a lot of, "please don't say..." going on. they totally think i'm the thought/speach police, but oddly, i'm still well liked. i don't get it.

lucky 13

guess what? 13 days to my birthday!!! yay! usually my birthday plans include getting my hair done, dinner and drinking with friends. this year my solid plans will be slightly differnt. i know that i'm going to go to church to light a candle for my mom-i doubt it'll be hard to find one in ireland. and i'll spend the day with gerry. everything else is up in the air. i'll have only been in ireland for 11 days so i think things might be a little more quiet this year, but i'm really okay with that. i have a feeling it's going to be a bit of a weird day anyway.

yesterday christoph came over and we made dampfkneudels. so delish. it's a slightly different way than my mom made them... i think it has to do with the glass lid. you can actually see what's going on. anyway, totally yum. apparently there are sweet ones as well, and you can fill them with marmalade or jam (who eats marmalade, except germans?). i would probably never make the sweet ones, because i'm in love with the salty ball, so i just told him i don't care about the sweet ones. i ate like a million last night and had to sleep with an over-full tummy.

okay, time to deep condition my hair. it's kinda pissed that i don't have my pantene here to repair the bleaching damage.

annie's birthday

it was annemarie's birthday yesterday. i invited a bunch of her friends to go out to eat. it was good.

well, except for this one guy names andrew (an american soldier who "joined the army 'cause of 9-11" and who knows "we're doin' the right thing out there, stoppin' terrorism"). i don't like andrew. i think he's so obnoxious. when we were at dinner he was like, "how big's the steak?" in english, of course... and it was just so embarrassing.

otherwise, it was great. ouzo was drank. then later, whiskey. cards were played, and won (by me).

a small hang over was had this morning. the chips and salsa cured that alright, and if not that, the rye bread and german butter did it.

mad skills

i have the maddest skills ever. for eral.

the teacher is teached. laugh luag laugh.

i'm so schooling christoph on theis game he taught me...20 up. it's awseome. i am durnk.

EuroUrs

the sex and the city version of EuroTrash

i got back from the netherlands on friday night. part of the train ride was terrible because there were highschool kids on board, and they were soooooo loud i had to turn my iPod almost to max to drown them out. in fact, the two guys beside me were also not super impressed with them, and we all breathed a sigh of relief once they left.

i can't believe how nice it was to visit my host-family. really. i think it saved my sanity. :o)

on saturday morning i left for basel, switzerland, to meet up with tim. i haven't seen tim in ages... well, like 6 years to be slightly more precise. again, really awesome to reconnect with him. i did end up at the wrong train station, and in case you don't know, the swiss accent of german is different enough that my baden german accent mixed with dutch and canadian just wasn't cutting it.

tim and i basically walked around the city going from one fair section to the next. he even tried his hand at hitting cans with a ball to win a prize... which he did. a little blue mouse we called whiskey. embarassingly, tim had to pay for everything because i hadn't exchanged money into francs, but with a promise to visit me in ireland and allow me to return the favour, all was good.

we had an extended coffee/tea break at starbucks and used the toilet twice (where in the button for my jeans fell off, and not the one that was loose, the one that seemed stable, luckily i was wearing a belt) walked by the river, ate chestnuts toasted on the street, stopped outside the church for some chatting, almost went into a museum, checked out some of the high street and made tim try on a cute chocolate brown zippy sweater. it was great. it's so nice when you can reconnect so well with someone that you haven't seen in so long. and it's not like there's been lots of emailing or any blog exchanging. anyway yeah, it was nice. oh! we even found a place that sells clinique, because that morning i was washing my face, with one half of my broken face bar, and it fell down the sink. then i was like, oh, no problem, i have another half... which i promptly dropped down the sink as well. argh.

something that is not so EuroUrs? i really need to make myself accept european prices. they are insane, but i need to not keep comparing, and just relax about it. starting... now. okay.

yesterday i was left in the house by myself for most of the day. christoph came by and we played some cards, then atilla came by too. atilla is basically ali g. i may have mentioned that before. anyway, then i pretty much booted them out, because they started talking about fußbal and it was making me mental.

later annemarie came home, we got some thai food for dinner. markos came over and then malina. and christoph came back too.

today is annemarie's birthday. she got tickets for her and me to a hockey game. canada vs. usa on thursday. awwww yeah! saweet.

eatin' meat

the other day i ate a krokket. it's meat that i haven't eaten in years. yeah, my suspicions were confirmed. if i eat non chicken/turkey it will make me really sick. i got the message.

spoor 5

i totally forgot to tell the latest person giving/talking to me story.

on the train here, i was going from heidelberg to mannheim. this old german lady totally started chatting me up! it was awesome, she said that my german is great, and then started telling me how smart i am that i'm traveling and having fun while i'm young. as i was leaving i coughed a bit, totally not much, but she gave me this package of cough drops, for my trip, she said she has lots at home, and that i need them now. she was so sweet, i couldn't even argue.

i didn't ask her name, but those kind of connections i really like. i know that i will probably never see her again, but i like to think that i will remember what a nice oma she was.

fietsen

today mam and i went by fiets (bike) to Dieren. it was a typical dutch ride, because the wind was against us on the way there, so we laughed, and had to pedal hard, luckily i didn't end up in a ditch... which sometimes happens.

when we got home, we readied to go to deventer-where maartje's school is, and where she was having a graduation today. unfortunately i fell in the mud. which would have been way more funny if it had been a really big fall, instead it was just a little slip, and i got my knee dirty with mud, so basically it was just annoying.

after i changed, we went to deventer. mam and i walked around and saw some more beautiful buildings and stopped at this centre where there were tibetan monks doing sand art... and found a bracelet for maartje. they were charging 25 euro for it. and mam, not wanting to bargain, was just like, oh, i like it, but i think it's too much. i agreed, because i know that it would be no more than 5 bucks, even for a tourist. but the monk started to barter with us. i was like: what the heck? i can't barter with a monk!!! but we worked something out, and walked away bewildered at what had happened! we walked some more and had a bite to eat and met up with maartje.

have i mentioned that if i hate ireland, i may just come to the netherlands to live. it's nice here, and i can get a cute bike with 3 or 4 gears... and improve my nederlands. speaking of biking... it's been a while since i biked, because my butt hurts in two places from the seat. it's not terrible, but it's funny. to me at least!

oburgen

last night i arrived in oburgen.

my family here has just moved to oburgen, so it is my first time here. they purchased the house a couple of years ago and have completely renovated it. it is an old farm house, and has retained that feeling, and a bit of the look, but it is *not* a country house, as in rose pink, and country blue. it's perfect. and i feel stupid not having a camera with me. i need to get better at knowing where that little thing is.

it is so nice to be here. my (host)mam and i went to zutbhan and bronckhorst. they are old trade towns and they were beautiful. we had tea and bakken at the old coffee and tea shop and looked around a bit... walking through the towns and admiring the old buildings and streets. it rained today, and was a bit cold, but it really only started to get bad once we got back home.

i slept great last night -- no birds from my sister, and also not staying up too late playing cards at her house.

there is a dutch word to describe what it feels like here... gezelleg. it means kind of comfortable, cozy, nice, but a little bit more than that. so nice, so relaxing.

oh! and tonight we had vla! which i love... but totally forgot about. vla for ursula! i've had some drop, kroketten, and gouda cheese. all yummy.

mijke and ilse don't live at home anymore, so i will have to see them next time i come, but maartje and marcos do. maartje and i have been joking around like old times, but marcos is a bit shy of me.

i wish i was staying here longer, i'm already sad to leave, but i'm still here. so, taking some of mam's advice, i'm going to live in the moment and not worry about tomorrow.

the connection is made

last night we dropped gerry off at the airport. it was a good weekend. fun was had, despite me basically sucking as a tour guide. well, that might not be true... had i been given the opportunity to act as a guide, i'm sure i could have done a great job.

instead, on sunday we made a mexican dinner (tacos and such) for annemarie, her boyfriend and markos. turned out okay... cause annemarie actually behaved herself a bit better. played some cribbage. was good.

monday we went to old heidelberg, to the hauptstraße for lunch and gerry shopped. uh, yeah... he bought a suit, a jacket, and a belt. p.s. i only bought a pair of tweezers, cause mine dropped in the toilet and despite offers to have them sterilised, i chose to buy a new pair. i liked this cute red bag, but have decided that the € can kiss my ass. it may make it easier to travel within the EU and not have to exchange money, but DAY-AMN it burns to think about the exchange rate. seriously. maybe being semi-retired before i went on this trip wasn't a great idea. and maybe spending two months traveling before getting to ireland wasn't my most brilliant idea either. i should have taken a spanish class and moved to south america... i *know* it'd be cheaper.

in a couple hours i leave for the netherlands. it'll be a nice break from my sister... who, despite being completely off the wall, doesn't fully understand how hard it is for me to deal with her. it'll be good to travel from my carry-on bag again. soooo much easier than having to take two suitcases and a carry-on... especially on the train! not that i have to anymore... cause gerry kindly took a suitcase with him last night. he didn't mention getting stopped by the politzei, so i'm guessing it's all good. now i just have to figure out how to work getting the rest of this baggage to ireland and *not* pay any more fees for it. but as mentioned, i've got a plan.

when i got back last night, i got to talk to danielle on the phone. it was awesome. i totally admit it made me homesick. 100%. but at the same time, it was so great to chat like normal and to *hear* her voice. so d, thanks for calling. now find that frickin' microphone so we can talk all the time!

going going gone

i bought two train tickets today. one to dieren, netherlands and one to basel, switzerland. i'm going to basel to visit tim for the day on november 5. and i'm going to visit my host family in the netherlands from november 1-4. it'll be a short visit, but it's only like a few hours there.

gotta jet to the airport now.

freedom!

this morning, at about 6.30/7 my sister came home. i had been up since 6, so thankfully she didn't wake me up. she and her boyfriend probably broke up.

good news, gerry gets here tonight. yay!

it's not my fault...it was my parents that locked me in

i am currently locked in our apartment in heidelberg.

things could be worse. it *is* an entire apartment. and i *am* by myself. i have a washroom, kitchen, bed and the internet. it's certainly not like i'm locked in a bathroom naked or something. that would be full-out ridiculous. and i am entirely free from fault. my sister only has one key (it's bent so she hasn't straightened it to get it copied) and as she left for her boyfriend's place in the city 30km away, she locked the door. it's the kind of door that you need a key from either side to lock/unlock.

so, the people from upstairs think i hate them for sure, cause it's a pretty lame excuse when someone knocks on the door and you have to yell through it, "ummm... i can't get the door open". they weren't all that concerned... they were just like, is markos there? no? okay! don't worry about "trying" to get the door open. have a good night!

i am so not even kidding.

guess i'll turn in for the night. burn.

this again?

i was super tired earlier. went to bed. couldn't sleep.

it's now 2.40 am and i'm no longer tired. boo urns.

i should have taken some nytol with me. that stuff knocks me out. maybe my sister can get her boyfriend to get me some when i give him the list of american groceries to buy.

today we went to ikea and i bought my sister a present... but had to borrow 50 euro to pay for it. i forgot that not everywhere in europe takes mastercard/visa etc. total burn. and of course i left my ikea card in canada... why would i need it here?

it takes my sister forever to do anything. i either need to let that be what it is, and never have a fully productive day here, because i will spend 7/8 of my time waiting (which i hate) or start to take matters into my own hands, which may piss her off enough to get her going. it's hard to say though.

the weirdest thing is that she hates anything different, so it's hard to get a commitment or a solid answer. which makes it hard to plan.

otherwise, i'm having fun. most of the people i've met are pretty cool, and i'm planning a lunch (hopefully mexican depending on what annemarie's boyfriend can get from the american p/x) for sunday with gerry, markos, annemarie and maybe keefe.

i'm starting to think a bit in german... at least it's coming back...bye bye dutch, deutsch is moving back in.

jet.........lag

oy. i managed to stay up 'til a decent sleep time last night thinking that then i would sleep until about 9am and then just be awake. my body's not super impressed. in fact, in may be rebelling. i'm too old for this shit. ;o)

i *did* wake up at nine, and fell almost right back to sleep. then markos came over at like 10 because he forgot a paper in the car yesterday, so we had to get the car key from annemarie. i tried to stay awake but couldn't. and just got back up with a dream/reality combination. i was dreaming that i was leaving for my trip and that i wanted to say bye to my mom. so i went back to her apartment (no, she never lived in an apartment) and she wouldn't answer the door (this is where the buzzing came in). and then someone told me she had died. i was pissed that no one had told me. that's when i woke up.

yesterday

i got picked up at the airport by my sister and her friend's brother, markos. we came back to the apartment in heidelberg, went to get lunch, i had falafel, they had gyros.

after we got back to the apartment, we played a game of continental. then anne and i went out to meet her boyfriend, keefe and went for sushi. this was an act of utter patience. i was so tired at this point, but we had to wait for keefe to get to the meeting place, then we had to wait for his friend to get to the sushi place, wait wait wait for the sushi, then we went to his friend's place and ate. his friend was nice, and leant me an adapter so i can charge my computer.

finally we got home, and i played a game of crib with danielle online and then totally passed out. i barely remember the game, sorry d.

germany ho!

tonight i leave for germany. in the meantime, a list.

• lunch with shannon (a girl i know from elelmentary school)
• do some laundry
• buy some hallowe'en candy
• fax and mail some papers to the lawyer in hope
• get some waxing done
• maybe allow myself to look at a cute new pink bra *maybe*

i hope i can do it all!

day 4 & day 5

we went to frank llyod wright designed house, falling waters. we also found a vegetarian restaurant, which was quite nice.

then we got to the b&b which was next door to the owner's farm. barb and i ate pizza from 2 sisters pizza. and rachel had food from the vegetarian restaurant that she bought at lunch. we all had a tonne of homemade cookies.

there was a woman staying in the suite downstairs, and a young couple staying in the other room. the couple from penn state, got there shortly after we ordered pizza. they went to their room and immediately had a shower. which is totally fine by me, but was hilarious because we were int he kitchen and you can hear EVERYTHING. even them running around afterwards, saying "tee hee". the three of us could barely hold it together. in fact, we probably didn't.

we were visited by sue, the owner of the b&b, who was a riot. rachel and i were talking about it, and it's such a different way of life. she grew up on the farm, married the boy from the farm next door, has never traveled but feels like she has with meeting the people that stay at her b&b. simple, a little naive, but happy. and we can't fault her for that. very nice. very very nice. in fact, i would totally recommend going there. especially if you like breakfast. we didn't stop for lunch. it wasn't even mentioned.

after breakfast we left for toronto. rachel took me out for dinner at khmer thai. and then sarah and chris and i got to hang out a bit.

northward bound

today we're heading for home. we're stopping at falling waters for a tour, and then we'll spend the night at a b&b in mill run.

chances of having internet at the b&b? slim. so allow me to predict:

we will drive a lot. there will be floundering on making a decision on where to eat. falling waters will be amazing. there will be some more driving. and i will be glad to be at the b&b and out of the van. then tomorrow there will be more driving and more indecision and then i will be very happy to be in toronto.

as an aside... i realise my attitude has been crap lately. i can feel it, and reading back on posts, i can see it! let me explain what's going on, in my favourite format, a list.

this trip has been very frustrating for me
i've been dealing with pms
there was a mess-up with some legal papers, so now there's a delay
and extra fun, in less than a week it is/would have been my mom's birthday.

just bear with me a few more days... i should rebound nicely.

i'm trouble

i really really don't understand how i can get myself into this kind of trouble. it's not like i'm a complete country girl who has never lived in a city and is all innocent and stuff. i mean... c'mon! why do people approach *me*?

here are four examples quickly written, so i hope they articulate what went on. the second one honestly freaked me out.

1. coming back up to the room (by myself on thursday) there was a guy in the elevator with a cart full of luggage. i was just going to wait for him to use the elevator, and then call the next one. he saw me waiting and insisted "ladies first". i thought that meant that he was going to let me use the elevator first. and was like, you're already in elevator... don't worry, i'll take the next one. then he pushed the cart out, with much effort, and was like: go ahead. after a bit of banter, i conceded. then he asked if i minded him using the elevator too. obviously i said no, and then he got back in, started pushing and pulling the cart, trying to manipulate it in. FINALLY he got the cart in, and was like: hi! you must be american. i was like no, i'm canadian. he then proceded to tell me how he was from saudi arabia, and it was his first time in the u.s.a. blah blah blah. thankfully he had to exit the elevator before me.

2. today i was waiting for the bus and decided it might be betterer to just take a taxi to the metro station and metro it in to d.c.. i saw a taxi go by, and waved to it, trying to get the driver's attention. of course the taxi driver didn't see me. the driver in the white van behind him did. and drive by, giving me a couple honks. then they drove around the block and beeped at me. the second time they drove around, they ended up behind barb and rachel, who asked if i wanted a ride, and seeing the other dude, and trying to ignore him, i was like: hells yeah!! and ran to them, white the guy was behind them waving at me.

3. at target i was waiting outside for rachel and barb, and getting a piece of gum. the security guard asked me for a piece. okay, i did need to make him repeat himself, because really, i wasn't expecting him to talk to me. of course i gave him a piece, and then afterwards really really made an effort to copy danielle's "do not approach or talk to me" attitude. and it worked. after the earlier experience, i was not wanting a repeat.

4. i wanted a veggie burger at the museum i decided to eat lunch at. in case you don't know... i hate mushrooms and am constantly needing to ask if veggie burgers have mushrooms in them. so i had to ask the guy working at the cafeteria. he said no, and then asked if i was allergic to them, OBVIOUSLY i said yes. then he said he'd go ask. i thought that afterwards he said, "you sure you're allergic to them?" so i said that "yes, i am." apparently he really said: are you from d.c.? because when he came back he said that they do have mushrooms, and where am i from in d.c. i was like: oh! no, i'm not from here. i'm from canada. and he was like: day-amn. canada's far. that's too bad.

day 5

today we went to the smithsonian.

unfortunately there were lots of things closed for renovations. burn.

however, i did get to the museum of american history and the hirshhorn.

then i went to pick up dinner at this indian place. once again we used mapquest to find directions. when will i learn? in tonight's directions there were mistakes for the way there, and the way back. totally brutal.

day 4

today we went to the vietnam memorial and for lunch at a museum.

then rachel and barb went to the holocaust museum and i managed to get back to the hotel. did some laundry and then headed back.

we went for dinner at this cafe with mahlette, which ended up having really good food.

day 3

i got to meet maya angelou... for like 3 minutes when i went to pick rachel and barb up from her house, they had lunch there. then we drove to alexandria, virginia.

the suite here is really nice. we decided to have thai last night. the place we ordered from wouldn't deliver so i went to pick it up. total disaster. it took me over an hour to get it. first of all the place was far away. and secondly, the way back was different than the way there.

oh america!

it's hot here. seriously. well, not right this second, cause it's 8am, but yesterday, it was like 30 degrees, and now that we're in north carolina, it's probably hotter.

as an aside, i'm wondering if west virginia is considered the south. if you know, please share.

oh and p.s. there are 9 guys in the lobby right now. 5 of them are wearing khakis and a blue shirt. and one is my age with a mini-ponytail. the kind that 40 year old "mid-life" crisis types grow.

no one else is not wearing shoes. just me. but this guy has tumi luggage, and i'm pissed about it. if you're going to spend so much on nice luggage, at least get a cute colour, not boring black. boo urns.

i've checked out the next hotel. apparently it's very close to the pentagon, and other military and government buildings-the names are curiously unmentioned. there is internet access, so fret not, i'll be able to blog from there.

day 2

today we drove to north carolina.

tomorrow rachel and barb get to go to maya angelou's for lunch. i may get to meet her when i pick them up. it was pretty funny in the van today when barb said that i could drop them off and then pick them up because she'd really like maya to meet bella (barb's assisting dog). then she realised what she said and was like, oh, and you too, ursula. well, funny in a weird way. not so ha ha.

*but* i did get to take some pics for barb's article, so if they're used in her article i'll get a photo credit for the toronto star. that's exciting.

after lunch at maya's we're going to d.c.. i need to research the smithsonian, so i can figure out what i want to see.

day 1

today we drove to west virginia. we left toronto later than intended but ended up making decent time. it was actually a fairly uneventful trip.

we are staying at the ponderosa b&b in lookout. the guy that owns it is really nice. it's actually a really cool place. the idea is that it's a hunting lodge, so there are some dead stuffed animals hanging around, but other than that, it's really cozy; kind of like a mix between camp and a hotel, if that makes sense.

tomorrow we're off to winston-salem, north carolina. it's my first time to west virginia, and it will be my first time to north carolina. yay!

what the h?

sometimes, like on the eve of a road trip to north carolina with rachel and a woman i've only met for dinner, i wonder what the h am i doing? seriously.

i know it's going to be a great trip, and maybe, just maybe, somehow i'll have to go to lunch with them at maya angelou's. but really, who does this? my original plan was to have been in germany almost a week ago. no scratch that. my original-original plan was to have been in germany a few weeks ago. plans changed. i'm having a great time in toronto and i'm super happy that i extended my time here. it's been great hanging out with chris and sarah. (in fact, i'm glad that i ended up staying longer than i had originally thought in kingston and arkona too. i know that everyone has been worried that they haven't been great hosts, but the complete opposite is true. it's been a good balance of alone time, and time with people. YAY!)

so yes, you're only young once, but who does that kind of detour on their way to move to a country that they've never been to before. oh wait, i guess when i left for queen's i'd never been to ontario...although it is in the same country. and then there was holland for a year when i was 15... but i was staying with families there. families i'd never met before...but who, presumably would be nice.

hmmm. maybe this move is somewhat out of character, and somewhat totally in character. huh. and i do know someone in ireland. now. someone i've already beat at cards, so maybe there won't be a lot of differences there. *mwah hah hah*

that said, i'm packed and ready to go. how much luggage am i bringing on this leg? a normal amount: one small carry-on case and my computer bag.

my cell phone's gone the way of my car, as in, i don't ahve one anymore. but maybe there will be internet at one/some of the hotels we stay at. if not, feel free to email, i'll reply next sunday. wish me luck; i really would like to meet maya.

beautiful things

today sarah and i went to the mall. well, first we went for brunch, and despite the service mostly sucking the food was great. the potatoes were well cooked, and basted in some kind of a curry. this is a recipe i am going to try to mimic. and the omelette was sooo amazing. very very fluffy, with roasted red peppers, feta, and onion. i would like to figure out how they got it so fluffy. i suspect they might have seperately whipped the egg whites.

okay, at the mall i bought the light coloured rocket dog shoes that i wanted in chocolate brown, but since i am replacing a light coloured pair of sneakers, this pair of cute cute shoes will do the trick. and i just bought two pairs of chocolate brown shoes. i also got a new pair of jeans, to replace the cute foxy ones and a matt & nat bag in chocolate brown with cyan accents and the matching wallet.

sarah bought a pair of black no-heeled cowboy boots and a kelly green matt & nat bag.

YESTERDAY

chris and i did some work, and waited for sarah's client to finish. so chris and i went for roti, and it was delicious!!! oh, and of course one of the customers asked about my bag. later sarah and i went to the chelsea lounge to meet up with sean and friends. they have yummy cosmos there! and then we cabbed it to this other place... i can't remember the name, but the cabbie was awesome! i asked him what was going on, cause i think it's polite to talk to the cabbie. he was like, oh not much, just picking up beautiful ladies. and then when he asked us, sarah was like: oh, not much, just picking up beautiful cabbies! it was sooo funny. then we were talking about getting money from the bank machine, and i was like, oh! don't worry, we have enough to pay you. and he said, don't worry, you could just pay me next time! what a character!

it's weirder here

i think toronto is a bit of a weird place for me. i feel so different here. different from people that live here. it's so awesome to visit my friends, but the life is different.

chris said it tonight, over dessert... he couldn't live in montreal, and he couldn't live in vancouver... too much slacker lifestyle. it's probably the exact reason i couldn't live in toronto. it's too go-go-go. everyone's got things to do. call me lazy but i have enough stress going on, i don't need a city to create it for me.

on that note, i *am* having a great time here. i'm actually learning the city a bit better now. cause i've been traveling transit by myself. i can now get downtown by myself. and i now know that sarah's street runs east-west, not north-south. i know when to get off and where to catch the streetcar from the bus.

today was good. i emailed, did some dishes, worked out flights (to germany for gerry, from germany for me) did some work and then did some shopping/walking around. and got to sarah's office-with directions, but by myself. yay!!! (oh, and some girl totally smiled and said hi to me on the street...i don't know why... but it was nice. kinda like being back in my old hood.) tonight we went to dinner at the phnom penh-like restaurant on st.clair. and by we, i mean sarah, chris, sean and me. then we went for dessert and chitchat.

we got home and all went to our macs. :o) msning/emailing/working. yay! i got to touch base with danielle and ian.

HM

mmm... i felt a little HM today.

sarah and i went for brunch today down by her work. we decided to split our breakkies because we both wanted more options. i would like to mention that i quite like splitting breakkie. i've said it before, and i really mean it. cause i always want eggs, toast and homefries, but that doesn't allow for the much adored pancakes and french toast. with sharing you can get it all. and in the right proportion. anyway, i didn't get my breakfast. and people who had come in after we'd finished sarah's were getting served. it was a total burn. eventually it was brought, and later some more toast was brought. but we were full by that point.

i went to a computer store to get a bag for my computer. it's a bit harder than you'd think. so i made the guy show me all of the bags that will fit a 17" powerbook. everything was ugly, or didn't fit. and i said so. i mean, c'mon, apple prides themselves on design. designers buy their products. no one can design a cute carrying case for the 17"? i don't think so. then i almost bought a cover that you put on it, and then you put that into another bag... which would have been fine, but not what i wanted, and not helped in the issue of having to take my computer out of my carry-on for going through the x-ray thingy at the airport. but, in the last minute, he found another one. and now i have a cute carrying case, in silver, with handles and a shoulder strap. yay!

on my way back, i stopped at the corner store, bought some flowers, milk and bottled water. then i went to this astrology site that sarah has me addicted to. i was checking out how to seduce myself... just to make sure i'm doing it right. astrologyzone.com-it's the way to go.

"Her sign rules the centaur, half man, half horse, pointing high, toward the sky, which symbolizes her quest to reach the lofty goals she's set. She could be "high maintenance" in that you will have to endure all the highs and lows of her existence, for her motto is nothing ventured, nothing gained. Alas, some things just aren't going to work out, but unlike Cancer, who will try to second-guess themselves, Sag's optimism will buoy her up. She will be on to Plan B in no time. Sometimes this could be exhausting for you, so keep the vitamins handy. Places To Go, Things To Buy Her."

okay, i'm gonna do some dishes and laundry. and put these flowers in some water.

hit the rails, jack

today i head back to the t dot. there has been a bit of a change to my already reworked plan of leaving for germany on wednesday. now i will go to north carolina with rachel and barb (this woman who rachel works for) next tuesday. and then the monday after that, leave for germany. i'm not sure when that means i will leave from germany to ireland, but that can be worked out.

this morning shelley made pancakes. this means that in the past 8 days i've had pancakes three times. all three times with maple syrup. saweetness!

thanks to kenji and shelley for hosting me this week. entertaining me with CSI and law & order (a near unlimited supply), feeding me, playing games with me, and not getting mad when i tease their oldest child... it will be fun for you!

yay arkona!

momma needs a new pair of shoes

yesterday was the first day since b.c. that i spent most of my day outside the house. instead of continuing to feed my agoraphobic tendencies once again, i went with kenji, shelley and kids, to the mall and then to shelley's parents' house for thanksgiving/christmas dinner.

the mall. a success. i bought two pairs of brown shoes. one a plain pair that will look nice with my brown pants, and the other looks cute with jeans. they're the little slipper kind. they were the only ones out of 7 pairs that i picked out in size 10. and they fit well, and look cute. yay!!! i also got laura secord chocolate to bring to the baker dinner.

dinner. a huge success. ohmygosh. i was so full. everything was yummy. and i got to talk hockey. saweet.

vacation time zone

huh. today is saturday.

i guess i kinda knew that. it just didn't really sink in until now.

shelley and i went to the spa for facials today. yay! so nice. as soon as we left the spa we compared. yes we both got foot massages while the mask dried. shelley enjoyed the quietness and i almost fell asleep.

after the spa, we took a different way home. passed kenji's other church, and stopped at this small farm for maple syrup. let the irish rejoice. it's the same maple syrup that kenji and shelley have at their house, and i've tested it out. yum.

now we're going shopping and then to celebrate christmas at shelley's parents' house. yes, i said christmas. :o)

oh, didn't win at blackjack last night (at the casino) but it wasn't such a harsh loss that i'm crying about it. kenji and i had fun, and enjoyed some cheesecake and conversation at a cafe somewhere nearby.

gettin ready to get lucky

yay!

kenji and i are going to go play blackjack soon (once the kids are in bed). i forgot to mention that it could be a lucky day... it started off with banada pancakes and maple syrup. saweeetness, yo!

and i'm not totally sure what's going on, but i think det. logan (my first ever law & order boyfriend) is on Criminal Intent... replacing my latest law & order boyfriend, det. goran (vincent d'onofrio). i'm so confused! if you know, please update me.

slow it down

this evening will be the first time since tuesday that i have left the house. i'm okay with that.

as mentioned, my time at the maruis is meant to be catching up, laughing, games and tv. and it's been good. tonight kenji and i are going to try our luck at some blackjack. tomorrow morning, shelley and i are going to get facials.

my horoscope said i was going to be reintroduced to an old friend. my response? maybe they mean blackjack!

i don't have much else to blog about now, but once i leave the house, i probably will.

it's okay, i forgive you

whoot! i love you soooo soooo soooo much, and no, i'm not mad.

you did such a great job tonight, i'm really proud of you. this is our year for sure.

trev, todd, i adore you both. welcome back.

canucks 3 - coyotes 2. we're back in the game boys. i love you.

time of reckoning

on sunday night i got to meet up with gerry (cute irish boy whose blog i started reading last year and with whom some kind of (if it's on the internet, does it count?) relationship formed). first you've heard of it? well, it's been a secret for a while, and since things went so well on sunday, i am only now going really public with it.

i'm not going to go into how weird i think my behaviour was, but instead i will focus on the present... oh, and the future too, i guess. :o)

things went really well in niagara... i guess as well as i could have hoped, even. he did not turn out to be an axe murderer, a weirdo, or have characteristics that should set off any alarms. i'm paranoid, and super critical, so i'm gonna go with my gut on that.

we had fun, and fully plan to continue this hookup in cork. yay!

especially since i know i can rock the pants off him at poker. mad skills, indeed, look out ireland.

for the next week, i'm in arkona. a girl's gotta go where the thanksgiving dinners are!! i'm hanging out with the marui family. oh the sweetness of people with cable, and an equal love of law & order and of course the children that enable this love of making the parents so tired that a quiet evening at home is exactly what they need. that's pretty much my speed these days too!

yay!

i don't know if this is enough info about gerry for all of you, my vast expanse of fans. i guess we'll see. sorry i've basically been off the planet lately, i guess the irish are distracting.

niagara

good times in niagara! yay!

today G and i went on the maid of the mist after a nice walk by the falls. oh! and we had pancakes with maple syrup for breakkie.

later we're going to meet up with G's friend, suz and go for a drink.

off she goes

sarah, chris and i are going for brunch today. shortly, i think. then sarah and i are going to get pedicures, and hopefully there will still be lots of time to come back and shower. i did buy a shower cap to protect my flat-ironed hair.

plans for niagara? having lots of fun, possibly gambling, and maybe going to a winery.

t dot

i'm in toronto tonight. tomorrow i train it to niagara. hopefully it will not be like the last time i was on a train... you know, yesterday. all day.

today i caught up to raza at yorkdale mall, then sarah and i went downtown to do some shopping. i don't think we really bought anything. it was kind of a bust. and actually, when i was younger, i really liked it when the streets were busy, it felt like i was really in a city. now i don't. well, i guess i don't when it's grossly humid out and stores don't have A/C on.

we had nepalese food for dinner. so good. the waiter was pretty funny at the end... asking me where i was from and stuff. weird.

anyway, it was good to meet up and shoot it with raza, and then do some shopping with sarah, but now i'm beat. and my ugly foot hurts. maybe if i didn't call it the ugly foot it wouldn't be so self-destructive. but i really think it's just a vicious circle. we also saw a concert tonight... antony and the johnsons. i can't remember the name of the first act, but i liked them too. the concert was at a united church on bloor.

i didn't buy anything at the furla store. i find i don't get the service i want in ontario. well, usually i do, but sometimes at stores i haven't been. like when i would have bought that matt and nat bag in kingston. at least f'ing greet me if you want me to spend $500 on a bag, that i could get somewhere else cheaper! *idiots* *gosh*

that's all of my anger. out.

since i've been out of the house all day, it felt good to be back. so much so that i was compelled to say, it feels good to be home... at someone's home.

tomorrow is niagara. whoot.

goodnight sweetheart

it's my last night in k-town. it's been a lot of low-key fun. something i'm pretty much into these days. it was really nice to visit with cheryl, jeffy, neva and hugh. YAY! super gracious hosts... oh, in fact, they've got mad hosting skills, yo.

there were lots of parties (tonight cheryl won with daisy, and peaches came in last! YAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYA!!!) since no one was playing peaches for the second night in a row, i felt more comfortable calling her a bitch, and yelling to the tv that i hate peaches. it was almost like old times! i may have even gotten around to making rude statements about her being a dirty slut and doing toad on the side... if not, i meant to. and p.s. peaches, i had peach yogurt twice while i was here... because i want you destroyed...one peach at a time.

darbar, wok-in, the goat and the nam were had. yummy! tomorrow darbar for a goodbye lunch with cheryl, so i do get carrot chutney afterall! whoot! (note to readers: they now offer a fried tofu at the nam, but don't take it. it's misleading, well it was for me. i thought it would be like the tofu at the wok-in with nam curry, but it wasn't. it's not BAD, but it's not like the normal stuff... stick with what you know).

also, as hoped, catan and carca were played.

oh, and i met huss. i would have been nicer to him, as i do have good manenrs, and he does seem like a normal person, but he was mean to me first. online, and then!!! if you can believe it, he destroyed me at catan. b-b-b-b-burn! he truly is the el bastardo.

seriously, i had a great time, thanks for having me. it was lovely to meet you, huss.

next stop, the T dot.

you got sold

dearest peaches,

awwww yeah! you got schooled in jeffy's own house. i'm just sayin' is all.

xoxo
u

go fly a kite

yesterday, cheryl, neva, hugh and i, went to park to try to take advantage of the windyness.

it was awesome. neva and i worked on flying the kite. and she quickly was able to fly it herself. she even learned when to tighten the string and how to run with the kite to try to get it going. i would say we all had fun.

at one point neva even said, unprovoked,"mom, i'm getting mad skills".



oh, and i am totally moving up in the world, i got picked to read neva her story (possibly because the choices were jeffy or me-and jeffy always messes up the stories) and as her favourite part of the day, neva picked flying her kite. AWWWW YEAH!. mad skills, indeed.

resolution

jeffy and i made a bet yesterday and he was supposed to write something here about our mario party last night, but he hasn't written anything yet, so i should say the following:

my friends who have played with yoshi know that his anger for peaches is surpassed possibly only by my loathing for mushrooms. so a great opportunity was there to bring her to a scathing defeat last night at the hands of yoshi, but the game had other plans. in mini-game after mini-game and battle after humiliating battle, peaches trounced, burned, smashed, waxed, and otherwise served yoshi his breakfast.

he was no match for her mad skills, yo.

more important is the transformation that took place as the game unfolded. i realized that rather than being a character to detest (for beating yoshi into last place, two games out of two, on mario party 2 and mario party 3), peaches embodies the grrlbot characteristics that i most love about myself: she kicks ass all over the board, yet remains cute and charming!

it feels great to rid myself of this pointless internal conflict. i have finally won the ultimate mario party battle - the one with myself. at last, i love peaches.

i think tonight i may try mushrooms.

survivor

i got left alone with the kids today. before you panic: everything was cool.

i'm starting to realise how little contact i've had with children since i stopped babysitting. luckily cheryl told them that they could watch tv. there was a bit of conversation with neva, and some chatting from hugh, who was even harder to understand because of the toothbrush in his mouth. i wasn't sure if it was cool for him to putter around with it, but 1. i like his interest in hygiene, and 2. i read cheryl's blog about how quickly the mouth heals. besides, he was happy... i wasn't gonna rock that boat.

okay, it was only for an hour, but in the time that i've been here, i don't think i've made neva hate me, and hugh doesn't cry when he sees me, so i think i'm on steady ground. neva wanted to share her best moment of the day time with me, and hugh offered me some naan; sure it had already been in his mouth, but i know he likes naan. oh, on that note... when that happened... he put his hand in his mouth to grab it out, and then sort of baby waddled/walked towards me, hand outstretched, wet naan getting closer and closer... cheryl said she saw the panic, and that i held it together alright. whoot!

i think i might be able to entertain them even without tv. i don't want to push my luck; i'm just sayin' is all.

broken record

i've played four game since i've been here. catan, carca, and two mario parties. i clearly do not have mad skills. or if i do, they are not nearly as mad as others'.

i want to win at least once while i'm here. maybe i should stop playing after that win, like in tetris. once you get to level 13 or higher, you need to abort. you know, end it on a good note.

k-town calling

last night jeffy picked me up from the train station. we had about an hour to wait for kenji's train, so we went to the tim horton's and had a snack and a game of carcassonne. jeffy won. he also told be about a license plate he saw on his way to pick me up. the slogan on ontario plates is "Yours to Discover". on the VW in front of him, the dealership plate holder covered enough on either side so it read "urs to disco". he said he thinks it's a good omen for my travels. i'm gonna have to agree with him. when we got home, after a visit with cheryl, jeffy and i lost to the mad-skills of kenji at catan.

i didn't know that kenji was crashing here last night too. but it was a fun surprise! we shared the basement, and just like old times at 62B Earl St. he slept on the couch. okay, it was a hide-a-bed, but still a couch.

this morning neva was escorted downstairs to wake me up with a wet willy. i am told that it took her a very long time to tip-toe up to my bed but she got too shy and decided not to wet willy me. when asked what she was going to do, she held her finger up to her ear. it was übercute.

after he shaved his head, kenji and i drove in the Element to the Sleepless Goat. i haven't been there in a couple years, so it was good times. breakkie, like usual was yummy, and Kenji ate my tomatos. tonight is dinner at darbar. WHOOT! i'm going to pick jeffy up from work, and then we'll go in to order and visit. OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH chicken dansak, here i come. i love you! so wise of you to suggest darbar on night 1, cheryl. :oD

today may involve a nap. since i got up at 5/5.30 b.c. time. and maybe some work. if other people come online... then chatting for sure!

two months

hey! it's two months 'til my birthday! whoot!

louis-isms

i'm in ottawa now... and having fun at the robayo sheridan house.

for my plane trips, i have an electronic ticket, and no paper copy (cause my printer is out of ink). when i went to check in, i said i was going to toronto and then to frankfurt. oops. the check-in attendant couldn't find me... there was a big line-up and it was only getting bigger as i waited for him to find me. i was kinda worried, because i didn't want to have to buy another ticket, and i worried at what my credit card limit was at, which i always do despite knowing that i've still got a credit on it, because i only bought a one-way ticket. he said he found me on a flight to ottawa... and i was like, oh. yeah. i forgot. i'm flying to ottawa! i'm glad i can laugh at myself, cause really... who forgets where they're flying?

last night we visited sarah's mom at the hospital and then went for dinner at a mexican place and then this morning we visited again, and she got released! yay!

so far there have been a few really wicked louis-isms (louis is sarah's dad, and he's the nicest guy ever, but there are some hilarious things that come out of his mouth).

for example:
* oh, god will get them. and if god doesn't get them, i will
* it's better to be rude and alive than polite and dead
* she doesn't know her own strength (referring to sarah's sister, katie, who is little and totally cute)
* she's mac the knife (again about katie)
* the guy's got no imagination (it's his ultimate insult)

i'll add more as i remember them

last night i slept a pretty long time. from like 1am to 11 am. i am clearly still on b.c. time, and i was exhausted last night. i hope tomorrow i get up at a normal time. it was nice for neither bill nor work to wake me. i think my eczema is much less noticable.

tonight it's off to kingston for curry week and gaming

bye!

i'm off!

i miss you all.

xoxo
u

final countdown

oh, i said i'd use it again, and i did. uh huh!!!

well, it's the last 9 hours before the first leg of my trip happens. it's pretty exciting. and super sad to say goodbye. but danielle has convinced me that if i do stay in europe for a long time, i'll need to come back soon to pick up the rest of my crap. two medium sized suit cases, one carry-on and a case with six bottles of wine. i tried to pack lightly so i've only taken like half my knickers. worse case scenerio, i start to go commando. or best case. depends on who you ask, i guess.

recent purchases include a new pea-coat and some jeans. whoot.

it was weird to pack a suitcase into a suitcase, but for the second part of my ontario tripping, i think it will be better to have something smaller, and just leave the other cases at sarah's in toronto.

ottawa, k-town, toronto, niagara, toronto, arkona, toronto, frankfurt. here i come. it's gonna be quite the ride.

although i'm packed, except for toiletries, i feel like i'm leaving something behind... oh right. almost everything... i almost forgot.

say goodbye

it's really starting. and it's really sucking, this having to say goodbye stuff. i knew when i moved to the rock that i wouldn't see my friends as much because it's less convenient, and being super busy isn't all that great for making hanging out time.

yesterday i said bye to ang and had a discussion with ian about me leaving and how things would be changing in our friendship... it totally sucked. tonight i said bye to yvonne and lola. again sucked. again cried.

wow. i know i'm ready to go... or rather that i need to go. but for some reason (de nile ain't just a river in egypt, i know) i didn't really expect it to be so emotionally draining. i mean, i figured by the time i left ontario i would be a basket case... way too many goodbyes at that point. but i didn't think it would hit me until then... i was wrong. i am so sad to leave, despite it being my choice, and thinking that it's for the best. it's just that it's been a totally crazy year, and my friends, who i am now leaving, have been there for me through it.

in two sleeps i leave. and i'm sad. excited for what's to come, but sad at what i'm choosing to leave behind, and at what i risk losing.

too much, too fast

ohno, ohno, ohno!

don't read any further if you don't want to know what my crotch looks like right now.

so today rach, and i went to get some waxing. i think there was some miscommunication going on. i went in expecting a bit of cleanup. and requested "a little bit off the top". maybe i wasn't clear. maybe "a little bit" or "off the top" doesn't translate as well as, "sides only, please". at this point, i might as well have gone hollywood. i'd be tempted to call my current look "minimalist". as in, "whoa! there is only a bandaid of hair on my crotch". this is not to be confused with the landing strip that would be about twice as long and wide as what i've got going on right now.

i really didn't want to go so extreme for two reasons. one, what i have right now looks ridiculous to me, it's like i just got her to stop because it hurt too much (which should have been the indicator that she was going too far) and two, my crotch is not interested in getting that waxed, so it revolts with irritated skin and ingrown hairs despite exfoliating.

here's the best part. because i'm totally paranoid, and waxing/threading is no exception, i always think while it's getting done that they're doing too much. then i look and it's really just fine. so while she was going nuts downtown, i was talking myself out of panic. and i can't look. not while it's happening. cause i feel guilty treating gina like that.

anyway. yeah, it's pretty bare down there. and not my favourite template.

i guess i'm really going

bought my tickets today. vancouver->ottawa on saturday. toronto->frankfurt on the 11 of october.

it's done now.

rocky go home

today danielle was kind enough to drive me to hope. i am finished there. well, there is the whole settling the estate stuff and whatever. but as of today, i won't be going back there for a while. emailing and faxing will have to do.

we also did some photo taking... this included getting our pics taken in the sylvester stallone plywood thing where you put your face in and it is supposed to be your face with his body kind of thing. i got a picture of the big bear... a totally touristy thing... and a tonne of pictures of mountains (it was a bit overcast, so you can't really see how crazy big they are, but it still gives an idea).

danielle had her wedding album with her, because she wanted a picture changed and the glue taken off a page. the album looks great. it really captures danielle and jordy's personalities. she went to her parents' house and showed it to her dad, and then we stopped at her mom's work to show it to her. now, i really don't consider myself a jealous person. mostly i'm a, "well, this is the way it is, if you want something that someone has, do something about it, or suck it up," kind of person. but it really got me when her mom was looking at the album. she was so proud and happy, and i realised that that's another thing that i wouldn't get to share with my mom. and it makes me really sad to see old people in a retirement community, and feeling ignored by their families. anyway, i totally burst into tears outside.

i'm sure there are other things that made me cry, like lack of sleep, stress, and getting down to the last few days here (and all the things that go with that, like missing friends, and my home, and my life) and i have been feeling a bit weepy the last couple of days, but that was definitely the kicker.

fun things that happened today: taking fun pictures, finding a cute pea coat, and a cute pink and brown bra that i will buy tomorrow, and fielding phone calls from clients. *AND* i totally took newt with me, and worked on the ride in... this means that i'm just waiting to hear a final okay on the poster/sign thing i had to do. and i'm going strong on the website... which i want done tonight or tomorrow morning... before waxing. wurrd.

i'm in love with a boy

a boy named newt!

seriously, i've been doing a lot of work on this little baby, and it's been getting its fair share of non-work fun-ness. so far, so good! *touch wood*

oh, except that it won't let me book tickets through aircanada. i figure this could mean one of two things, canada doesn't want me to leave, or the more probable, air canada's website is *gasp* not all that mac friendly. i thought i booked sarah's flight online, but maybe i didn't. anyway, it was a freakin' waste of time today, booking my sister's flight. blah blah blah her freaky birds were problematic. but it got done.

also done today: picked out tile for the backsplash in my kitchen, which may or may not be done before i leave, webcam chatting with G, work (and lots of it) and dinner with danielle and ian at sophie's.

why i am blogging when i'm so exhausted, i have no idea.

oh! but on the skytrain coming back there was this annoying girl who was hitting on this hot guy (ummm... danielle, notice how i still to the truth, and don't edit it to, "this sorta okay guy" like you did when relaying the story to jordy? uh, yeah. :op ) in the seat in front of her. examples of what she said to make me annoyed include: can you point out on the map where we are? do i have to change trains to get to surrey? really? i just stay on this one? but once he left, there was this other guy (much less cute, way more creepy) that tried to make eye contact with me, but luckily i had danielle there to protect me. as i've said before, i am a freak magnet in public places. so, danielle was hissing at me: pay attention to me. don't look. you're gonna make eye contact. anyway, she saved me, and then i felt sorry for the girl who was now getting harassed by Mr. Once a girl i was seeing gave me X. but i'm not really into that stuff. i put tile on some stairs today... you've got a great smile... etc. who got off the train not a moment too soon, and made the girl then talk to me. i decided, thinking about how annoying she was, that i had just witnessed karma full circle. and because i wasn't minding my own beeswax, i had to talk to her after the fact.

okay. bed, and then getting up early. i plan to finish at least one project tomorrow. and if i go to hope to finish up crap there, i'm gonna have to seriously focus. luckily i have jann arden and black eyed peas to keep me company.