More adventuring, with lots more to come

It has been a busy week. On Tuesday, Zenon and I headed to Toronto, as Zenon was excited to be the first one in his family to grace that hallowed city with his presence. We took the bus, which was a good idea. First thing we did once we hit town was to visit the CN Tower. We went for the Total Tower Experience, and saw the cheesey '80s video about how the tower was built, went on the Lego ride, and then went right up to the Skydeck. We took a bunch of pictures which I will post at a later date.

After the tower we ate at a very nice Greek restaurant that we walked past. The food was amazing. While there, we learned that we had walked right by the Hockey Hall of Fame, which was the reason that Zenon wanted to go to Toronto in the first place. When we found it after dinner, it, alas, was closed. You could almost hear Zenon's heart breaking. My heart, on the other hand, felt nothing but relief. We had similar bad luck at the ACC afterwards.

Oddly enough, I ran into someone I knew in Toronto. What are the odds? Not good, whatever they are, exactly. Anyway, walking around Union Station I heard someone call my name. It ended up being Jason, which was exciting. He gave us directions to the bus station, which was helpful. It was neat to see him after so long.

Yesterday Zen and I went to Niagara Falls. I have lots of pictures from that trip as well, but I will post them later too. I'm such a tease, hee hee. Yesterday was a very fun day, filled with wax dummies, waterfalls, laughter, sharks and old-time photos. I need to go now as I have a busy evening planned, so I will leave the rest to your imagination.

So, farewell my friends, and wish me luck on the great cross-country adventure. I will update you on my happenings as soon as I can. Write me lots of letters in Alberta.

Untitled

So, it's been an interesting couple of days. Friday was my last day at work, and I was probably the most hyper that I've been in years. I couldn't sit still or stop humming. Luckily, partway through the morning I had a new person to train, so that helped me to calm down, because I wasn't going to make it through the day otherwise. Saturday morning I picked up Zenon from the airport. It was a bit of a harrowing drive, but all went well. I brought him home to meet my family, and it seemed to go well. We watched a movie cuddled up on the couch with Anie, who wouldn't leave my side. After dinner my sister and her family left for Tim's parents' house, and Zen and I watched another movie before bed.

Yesterday morning we joined my Dad on the coffee tour so that Zen could meet some of my relatives. We didn't see as many as we thought we would, but enough so that word will spread that Zenon actually exists. Today was an exciting day, at least for me. I finally got the last wire off of my teeth from having braces years ago, and I picked up my new glasses. Everything is so clear to me now, and my teeth feel so smooth! It's been a good day, made better by the fact that my Mom made Zenon's favourite pie for dessert. Mmmm.... pie. Tomorrow we are planning on doing some touring. Zenon wants to see the CN Tower and Niagara Falls etc since we are in the area.

Having Zenon here has felt different than I expected. It has made me realize that our crazy scheme is actually real and actually happening. I have learned that in my head, "moving to Alberta with my boyfriend of only a few months" was a great story to tell people, but that I didn't actually believe it was going to happen. Well, now I have to face the fact that I'm going to the true Great White North and not returning for quite some time - I am figuring that it will probably be 6 months before I am back. People at work kept telling me that I was brave for following this crazy scheme, and I always just replied, "Meh." But, now I'm seeing that they were right - this is a very scary step that we're taking.

I will try to post pictures of me in my new glasses soon - possibly from our excursions in the next few days.

A kink in the plans

I am so good at planning. For the upcoming move, I have lists galore, ideas of what to pack and how, plans for the route and activities along the way... it is all coming together. I was even marvelling at how little I had that I wanted to pack. It all seemed too good to be true. And it was. Today I did a test run with my big packing bin. Turns out, it does fit into the trunk of the car as I was hoping. However, it also turns out that that is all that fits into the trunk of the car. As always, packing space in my head was larger than it appears in real life. Assuming that I have to leave the backseat for Zenon's stuff, that means that I have very little room to pack enough stuff to start a new life with. This could take some more planning...

In other news, my planning and packing has fallen a bit behind this week because I've come down with a nasty head cold. For a couple of days it felt like there was an elephant standing on my sinuses, but I think that I'm on the upswing now. I have to be on the upswing, because Zenon is arriving on Saturday (!) and I have to be well enough to pick him up from the airport.

Hmmm... not much else to say. Life with a 4 year old around continues to be entertaining. Tomorrow is my last day of work until I find something new in Fort McMurray. I like cheese. A crochet hook is all that stands between me and finishing the fringe on Gillian's scarf. Life is good. Now it's time for tea.

Weekend Abstraction

Things have been a bit busy lately. On Friday, my sister and her family moved in for the week while they are between houses. This means that I've been getting lots of playtime with my 4 year old niece, which is fun but exhausting. I need to come up with more fun games for us to play together,as Go Fish loses its charm much more quickly than I remember. I must say that it is lovely to come home to a big enthusiastic hug every night after work.

This weekend was also fun because I got together with Anna and Nad and Shanifa for a dance excursion out to Club Abstract. I hadn't been there since 3rd year, so it had been a while. I think that it is hands down my favourite dance club that I've ever been in. The vibe there was about having a good time, not about being sexy or trying to pick up or performing. I just felt like everyone there was there to dance their asses off and have fun. I also danced my ass off and had fun. It was the most "free" I've ever felt on a dancefloor, and it's not like I often feel constrained out there. Saturday also gave birth to my new favourite going out shirt. It is a black T-shirt with the Playboy bunny on it in sparkly gems. I wear the Playboy symbol ironically, or else as a symbol of the sexual liberation that came with second wave feminism (because in my head it's still 1969). Anyway, the sparkliness of the T-shirt turns me into an instant glamour queen, at least in my head. Even in the Williams bathroom I was inspired to bust a few moves until someone else appeared and I ran away.

After the dancing at Abstract, I slept over at Anna's, so I had a quiet morning laying in their soft guest bed. I have learned to appreciate the quiet after these couple of days spent living with an enthusiastic 4 year old. It was also fun to have girl-talk with Anna over breakfast in our pjs.

The Zenon countdown also continues. Only 5 days until we're again in the same province! My trip preparation is going slowly because my evenings are spent playing Memory and doing bead crafts with Anie, but I am still more than ready to see him.

Peanuts characters

This seemed oddly true.


You are Rerun!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
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Exciting News

So, Zenon and I have a place to live in Fort McMurray! It is the main bedroom in a house. We will have our own bathroom, but we'll share a living space with 2 others. It sounds like it's a fairly new house, and Zenon said that the owners sound really nice. Yay!!!! Yay to having a place to live!!! Yay to having a forwarding address!!! I will be e-mailing said address out at some point before I leave, because I will be expecting lots of letters from everyone, especially since we won't have a computer for a while when we get out there.

That is all I have to say for now. Oh, no, I have other (somewhat less) exciting news - I finished Gillian's scarf! I swear that that thing was cursed, and its curse lasted right to the end - I did something wrong when I bound off the stitches. Mom suggested adding fringe to make it prettier and to hide the mistake, so I might try that later. Still, the main part of the scarf is finished. Yay!

I hope everyone had a good long weekend. I had a very lazy one, but that is good.

Manic puttering

I have been a little hyper lately. That is an understatement. I have felt so happy and excited about our road trip and big move. I have remembered that I have a sense of humour and that I have a certain quirky charm that people seem to respond well to, and I have been using it. Work has become a lot of fun because I just laugh and enjoy people (and knit - yesterday I took my knitting to work to do at lunch, and it was a good idea) and bounce around, and similarly, I've noticed that my skills at small talk have improved because I have so much happiness about my own life that it bubbles over into concern about other people's lives. It is a little crazy (the mania - not the caring about other people's lives).

The second thing that I wanted to mention is that I have a 3 day weekend to just putter around. I am very excited about this. I woke up this morning and laid in bed, planning my day, and I realized that the only thing I have planned for the day is to go into town to buy some yarn so that I can finish Gillian's scarf. It is exciting to be able to just putter. I have some people who might call me to get together this weekend, which is fun, but as I wait for them to call or not call, as the case may be, I have lots of time to organize and pack and to read a book for fun (fun or the book club, either way) and do those things that I just haven't had time for. Also things will be quiet around here for a while. Mom is gone tonight. She has become a leafer and is going up to the Muskoka/Algonquin Park area with my Grandma, aunt and cousin to sightsee. On Monday, she and Dad are leaving to spend the week at a cottage up north for their anniversary, so I will have the place to myself all week. I will enjoy the peace and quiet, which is good because next weekend my sister and her family will move in with us for a week and it will be a full house.

Autumn has finally struck here. Earlier this week it was 28 degrees, sunny and gorgeous, but yesterday it was only 10 degrees and rainy, with that cold, gray way of autumn rain. I'm told that up North, where we're headed, there have already been snowstorms. This Alberta thing is looking less and less like a good idea all the time, or at least the part where we drive there. Of course, driving means that we get to take more books, so it's not all bad.

Announcement, or, why Heidi has been a stress case lately

Zen and I are heading for Alberta by the end of the month. He is flying in on the 22nd, and we are leaving probably the next weekend. So, I don't have very long to make last visits and last goodbyes and to get things done and to unpack and repack and organize and do stuff and to make lists and check things off my lists and to go crazy, which is perhaps for the best. I have been spending my evenings sewing Christmas ornaments (they are very cute - I will have to post a picture), which isn't the most productive use of my time all things considered, but is the funnest. I have the week off work between when Zenon arrives and we leave, so that is all good. I am planning to do the majority of my packing then.

I was reading Reader's Digest today at work, and it was talking about Canadians and sex. The average number of times that a Canadian has sex per year is 99. The Quebecois have sex 107 times per year on average, while the Atlantic provinces come in second in frequency at 106. Ontario is the second lowest at 95 times per year, so I am happy to be dating a Maritimer. Maybe he can help me boost my numbers, once we are together again. The article broke the numbers down in other ways too. The age group having the most sex is the 21-24 year old one, which isn't a surprise. 16-20 year olds are a close second, and then comes my age group, quite a bit lower. I guess that I have passed the prime time for sex in my life. *Sigh* Another interesting fact is that married couples have the least sex by frequency at 95 times per year. People living common-law have sex 127 times per year (yahoo!) while single people have sex 99 times per year. The moral of this story: don't get married and don't get old (the over 45 age group has a lot less sex than anyone else).

Nothing else to say. Work has been fun. We have a new girl who started this week. I need to bake something tonight to take into work tomorrow for a food day. I cut myself with my utility knife (this didn't happen at work). Life goes on.

The Secret Underground Ping-Pong League (which is perhaps not quite so secret anymore)

The first (and indeed the founding) tournament of the SUPPL happened yesterday in the basement of Gillian's new house. The two teams present were the Hot Mamas, made up of Anna and me, and the Freak Picassos, which was comprised of Gillian and Derek. While it cannot be said that there was a lot of grace and skill being displayed at the games, there was much laughter and excitement. The SUPPL follows slightly different rules than the ordinary ping-pong audience would expect. For instance, the ping-pong table is present merely as a suggested target. The ball is still in play when bounced off of ceilings, walls, floors, and other players. Indeed, such maneouvers are encouraged as they add to the excitement of the game and the enjoyment of the players. Before beginning each round, the players must assume the proper standing position of having their butts sticking out as far as possible and balancing thusly on the balls of their feet, which can be quite challenging (and incidentally, having all the players do so may reduce at least one of them into hopeless giggles for a matter of minutes (and incidentally, this player may be me)). The other main difference between traditional p-p games and those played within the SUPPL is that SUPPL rules require the players to use sound effects when they hit the ball with their paddle. Acceptable sound effects include frightened shrieks, Batman sounds (e.g. "Bam!" "Pow!" "Bop!") or any other word or sound that comes to mind. The SUPPL has deemed it unfun to keep score at its matches, so the players play for the pure joy of ping-pong.

Future matches will potentially include custom-printed T-shirts for team members, spandex, and black light, although these plans are still preliminary.