ushering in a new one

the slowdown in posting was due to meta-posting and my taking advantage of the new year's break to do absolutely not much.

---on saturday night i failed to register for online access to my canadian bank account, and on sunday i called them up, answered all the security questions and discovered that i couldn't register because i'd already been registered. sad that i didn't remember that.

i figured out how to pay the electric bill, and pg and i hit the plateau. it was cold, but everything was breathtakingly beautiful. we found aux vivres easily, but there was such a long queue that we decided to try la casa del popolo instead. sure, they have vegan dishes, but while i was satisfied with my meal, pg and i agreed that the food wasn't amazing.

i wasn't feeling great, and shopping for snowboarding gear for pg was a bit of a bummer. we arrived home much later than intended, meaning that we arrived at my aunt's much later than intended, but there was at least time for a cup of coffee before going out to my aunt's friend's place for dinner.

notes on winter dress:
1. pg wearing my new balaclava - totally ninja. and it really works well with the rest of her outfit
2. my penny arcade hoodie is so warm and comfortable when combined with yang's old coat - it's like walking around wrapped in a duvet ^_^

dinner: lavish. the house is magnificent and everyone was friendly and interesting.

it was a cold, long walk to the metro, though...

---monday:

my stomache wasn't happy on monday :(

pg and i went down to the game store and purchased carcassonne. we would've bought penny arcade: the game - gamers vs evil but they were sold old. on tuesday i'd buy the ios version, it's definitely worth the price. although it probably looks far better on an ipad.

---i don't have a problem with google maps in terms of getting me to a predefined location on the map. i do have a problem with those predefined locations being completely wrong. we travelled into the sticks to end up at the right address, but not at what was labelled on the pin.

---so google maps kinda ruined our plans for the day, and i'm not certain that entering loblaws on new year's eve was a particularly good idea: it was crazy in there.

we wanted to see a movie but we needed to do laundry, and our timing would have been fine if both dryers weren't still running by the time our washing was done. we hurriedly turned the apartment fixtures into an improvised line, i had a quick chat with my aunt* and then we headed downtown.

* you know, it's rare but sometimes my mouth says things and my brain goes "whoa!" - not that i don't love my aunt, but for me saying "love you" at the end of a conversation is reserved for pg and my mother. the awkward sensation as i hung up was only compounded by pg asking if i'd been speaking to my mum, and then laughing at the look on my face.

it was snowing on new year's eve, and downtown was magical. there weren't many places to eat before the movie, so we picked subway (which worked out). pg was playing fashion police, when a group of girls walked out the bathroom and one of them was dressed awfully her jaw literally dropped as she stared in horror.
"maybe she doesn't own a mirror?" i offered, judiciously.
"sweetie," she said, "i don't own a mirror and i don't leave home like that."

skyfall is a fantastic bond movie, it's clever and meta and a whole lot of fun.

the new year didn't start on an entirely good note, though, because google maps and i had a miscommunication and we had trouble finding the metro. dashing through the snow trying not to miss the last metro isn't fun :(

the metro was packed japanese-style. it was madness down there.

---tuesday:

we sorted out our metro passes early in the morning, and then discovered that the entire province was shut down for the holiday so we scrapped our plans and spent the day resting, playing carcassonne and watching one piece.

it was wonderful.

---today:

we got up early enough and took the bus to rockland mall. it was a very cold day. sports experts had nothing of interest, and so we continued on to mec. their jacket selection was confusing in the extreme, but the helpful sales assistant convinced pg to take the same helmet i did and i picked up transformer-style fingerless gloves / mittens which are warmer than what i was using even if not completely warm as such, and pg got her own balaclava.

then we had lunch at rockland, disagreed about the new les miserables movie which neither of us has seen (i suspect i'll be seeing it alone), then waited for ages for the bus home. we did some supermarket shopping on the way, and now that i've paid the rent, we've both bathed (improvised plug) and i've posted this, we're going to do absolutely nothing important for the rest of the evening.

note to self: pg doesn't dig dubstep.

this has been a wonderful few days.