mount royal

saturday, august 14th

sometime around midnight
the flight was super-quick, and suddenly we were in montreal and meeting my aunt and returning to a comfort zone we left in 2006. i like this city, too.

we spent the rest of the day doing family stuff, including a quick visit to a touristy place with k-twang and cls (well, she *is* the first "common-law spouse" i've met :P). we all talked and drank and ate and talked some more, and i'm now absolutely exhausted.

also, i'm horribly aware that i need some serious exercise to work off this belly i've let loose.

...
expressions for the day:
do-it-yourself yoghurt
and
meat-carrot

---
monday, august 16th

4.30pm
sunday morning's coffee was tarnished with the taste of the family's anti-smurf sentiment. it's not appropriate for me to be wearing such clothing, apparently, and my cousins will not be seen in public with me and my smurf vest.

huh.

i spent the morning posting, then made an attempt at playing team fortress - the xbox controls are not comfortable or intuitive for someone who's spent such an incredible amount of time playing counterstrike on the pc...

sunday is piknicelectronik day - brilliant! the second dj was far too minimal for my tastes, but the rest were excellent and the vibe was terrific - kids and party people, young and old, and the biggest complaint i had was that it drizzled for a few seconds but never actually rained...

it *did* rain when we needed to walk home from the metro though. oh, well.

the metropolis club was filled with canada's answer to chav's - not the best crowd. the first dj was alright, the second better, but the main act was boring. crystal castles is simply uninspired. the aggressive lighting didn't make them any more palatable.

i was completely exhausted by the time we got home, and put myself to bed as quickly as possible. t'was a disappointing end to a fantastic day.

...
i woke up this morning already planning on getting back to sleep, but was dragged out shopping instead. i've very glad to discover that my anti-consumerism philosophy has saved me a tremendous amount of dosh over the years... shoes*, shirts, trousers... it's unbelievable how much these things cost.

* the shoes had us fighting in the store - i've been told that my taste runs to "fugly" and that only old people would wear what i was looking at. meanwhile, the shoes they wanted to see me in were horrid enough to make my hackles rise.
we eventually compromised, so now we're all unsatisfied.

after spending some time considering it (having accusations levelled at me concerning my lack of realism in my non-conformism) i suppose there are occassions, likes dates and business meetings, that i could stand to dress for.

maybe i won't throw out my (rather expensive) threads post-tokyo.

after a decent food-court lunch i went milling around, lazily finding my way to the arts building at mcgill. after enjoying the noticeboards and wondering about a rather intriguing sign on a door ("PLEASE REMOVE ALL FOOTWEAR BEFORE ENTERING THE ROOM") i walked in to a quick chat with the english department's acting director of graduate studies, who was most helpful.

i paid a visit to the administration office, and was seated in front of a computer and shown where to navigate to on their website (pretty clear, surprisingly) - i now know what kind of money we're talking.

pretty big money.

i bussed home after milling around the mall for a bit, and i think i'm good for that nap.

---
23.31

i feel a bit shit - i was a right bastard to my (male) young cousin and i'm gonna have to apologize for that in the morning...

pre-dinner drinks and dinner were great, though. that nap earlier was truly necessary.

---
wednesday, august 18th

past 2am
i slept rather well, and woke up in time for family breakfast. the kids went off to work, and i joined my mother and aunt for a walk in atwater. that was a pretty serious pace they set, and the path is beautiful.

the clincher was brought to bear: *if* i were to be accepted into mcgill, and *if* i could arrange matters so as to be able to attend, then i would be able to enjoy canada's rather lengthy snow season as a local.

*THAT* turns me on.

the advice i received much later on about bringing a good woman along with me seems most practical.

...
we bought liquor and marmite on our way home for lunch. so much for controlled quantities of food...

after lunch we bought liquorice (atlantique? fantastique!) and visited westmount to see what will turn into an ice-skating pond during winter. nope - no hints there. from there we drove back to town, stopping for starbucks and then picking up my (female) young cousin.

when we arrived at the salon, i left my testosterone at the door while i went in for a mechanical back massage, a pedicure and a foot massage. my feet were left so soft and unprotected that afterwards i managed to soak back up a little bit of the testosterone puddle when i stepped into it on the way out. [ugh.]

i *had* to romp barefoot on the grass when we returned home again, and it felt groovy! the carpet inside feels pretty swell, too ^_^

i was going to nap but transcribed instead. k-twang arrived to tell me to get dressed, and we went to meet cls in chinatown. we had brilliant dumplings and other good food, and i only spilled about half of the juices / sauces on myself...

we took the metro to a nice bar, talking over guinness and raspberry beer (raspberry?!), then hit the imax to see inception. i have to say that that was *definitely* an experience worth repeating. even if i *did* begin to desperately need to pee from about halfway through, and the combination of not wanting to miss anything and not wanting to distract anyone else proved more powerful than my bladder's discomfort.

i could barely walk by the time it was over, but i'm pleased to report that my desperation overcame my shy bladder and i was able to make use of a urinal when there were other guys all around me :)

the evening was consumed by chatter, and i had a wonderful time.