little days

my mother suggests i stop keeping track of the details, but i think that's how this whole blogging thing got started. on the one hand, i should just stop. on the other?

the darkness of the unknown.

---
sunday night:
fluxx in an english pub seemed like an appropriate way to burn the couple of hours between buses. we picked up the last subway sandwich served for the evening (the guy behind the counter wasn't happy to be working until closing time) and returned to the bus station.

---
monday:

the toilets were unavailable, and there was a worryingly long line for the bus. we were most fortunate to board when there were still two adjacent seats available.

i finished the fudge while thinking about not being able to brush my teeth until the morning.

it was a long, restless, uncomfortable bus ride. we returned home under a pink sunrise, and had a proper fight before going to bed; related to the usual miscommunications.

---
it was slow going when we eventually woke up; it was refreshing to walk through the snow to go shopping. the morning's fight was over but i was conscious of the lack of words passing between us.

passing torn bills isn't cool - the indian fast food place we ate at before the movie almost got the jump on us.

---
i don't know what the hell people who complained about django unchained were expecting! it's what happens when a director has the power to transport us back in time to right a wrong, and it's definitely one of tarantino's crowning achievements. it's clever, it's fun, it's beautifully done; there was a lot of violence, but i do believe it was entirely appropriate.

---
in the evening our caretaker returned a key and promised to deliver the rest (uh, huh) while i was on my way to deal with other people's laundry. i really don't like handling my neighbours' undergarments so that i can use the machines and i'm sure they don't like it either.

we ate too much and i wiped out on one piece.

---
tuesday:

i had long beautiful dreams. i find that more and more, i'm sure i've slept enough but when i wake up i'm so perfectly comfortable and still tired and i think that another half an hour or hour will make all the difference, but it never does.

i spent the first couple of hours catching up, then found myself playing with "big man" fire. i need to back off while still saying what i've got to say: i might let you know how that works out.

i spent ages deep in system configuration, and eventually pulled myself out of it to watch the hockey. the game took a lot longer than i expected and pg bailed on the wall climbing, so we did tabata during one of the breaks and it totally buggered me up (i must be doing it right).

ice hockey is on the verge of being an extreme sport, and it's great watching a game when supporting the local team is supporting a winner: go habs!

-warm bodies is to zombies what twilight is to vampires: a pathetic twist pandering to the weak-minded who cannot deal with the essential monster. my opinion is based on the trailer, which i found disturbing. it's, like, super-advanced trolling.

pg didn't really dig detective conan, we booked another weekend in sauveur (this time, a room a *short* walk from the mountain), and i passed out.

---
today:

it was bloody *warm*. uncomfortably so, and a bit wet. have i mentioned no longer being a fan of positive degrees?

i began my day pondering tact and a future that hinges on it. then i received a fax that made me a bit emotional; the rest of my day was spent babysitting - newk'd on personal issues and cam2 on his distinct lack of focus and professionalism.

...

what the hell is up with montrealers?! it's at least six degrees out, and the metro feels like twice or thrice that, yet they're all keeping their coats on!! shit, i was so hot i couldn't put mine back on even when i got outside!

pg hasn't been feeling well today - i had hoped she'd be up for the wall, but i guess it's another night in.

junk and relatives

let this post begin on a sad note, discussing k-twang and our aunt. on wednesday afternoon our aunt and i spoke about the website she wants to put together, and she ranted a little about how unhelpful k-twang was. i thought to myself that it's a good thing she's so tolerant (she really is) as it's nigh impossible for her to put herself in others' shoes. asking a designer / web developer about putting together a site is like needing an apartment and asking a construction engineer or architect when you should be looking for a real estate agent. lucky for her, i said, i'm both an engineer and an agent, and that's how i knew what kind of solution to look for.

the thing is, there's something that's tough to ignore and that's k-twang's (alleged) response to her being along the lines of "i've decided not to take on private work". assuming that's the case, there's no need to say it like that. and an attempt to direct her wouldn't have cost anything.

---
thursday:

i was up early to lie in bed thinking about immigration officials and how i'm going to present myself. and, of course, how i'm going to deal with being on the wrong foot when i'm grilled for the second time. not that we've been wasting time or not enjoying ourselves at all, but we've been in limbo since november and to be turned away after all we've been through would be very disappointing indeed.

not to mention that my initial impressions of montreal weren't wrong: it really is magic.

---
i got up with the name "kurt vonnegut" in my head without recalling who he was, and never having read any of his work. i found some quotes of his, some of which are a bit meh and some of which are very clever indeed.

sometimes "early" means "on time". i may have mentioned this before, but i used to be excessively punctual until i completed the officers' course.

the day felt a little colder - it simply *must* be psychological. that sentiment's reinforced by a weekend shivering in much warmer weather.

sensation of the day: time flies, and automation is awesome when it works properly.
obstacle of the day: php by reference is mind-numbingly horrible and made me feel like i was trapped at the event horizon of a black hole.
lesson of the day: "only one focus" doesn't mean that marketing executives won't unleash surprises.

bets are interesting things. aota organized a nexus 10 and used $1000 hyperbole to describe how difficult it was to obtain. "you're on", i said, and opened a chat session with overclocker to ask if he could get one to me by the end of next week. "sure," he told me.
"how about that $1000?"
"we didn't shake on it."
not that i would have taken her up on it. if i'd thought it through i wouldn't have tried, as i really didn't mean to belittle her achievement and i hope i didn't have any less than humorous effects.

...

there's something special about saying goodbye for a long weekend and receiving a note of appreciation from my hopefully-soon-to-be boss.

---
pg and i headed off to take the accreditation exam, and we were a little nervous about the knots. our examiner was a really friendly guy whose only interest was in seeing that we were confidently competent, and we did fine! no tricks, no tough questions, and we were good to go ^_^

it was crowded until late, by which time we were already grimacing with sore arms and fingers. in the future we'll be arriving later to get a better selection. i was super proud of myself for some of the routes i managed :D

---
observation: it's now 2013, and some of my favourite items of clothing are a freebie troop jacket i acquired as a teenager and double-lined baggy mr price pants i bought before emigrating in 2000, both of which i'm happy to rate for weather reaching temperatures in the "****ing freezing" range.

---
after the wall we treated ourselves to our favourite chinese place, finally remembering to only order one meal (okay, and a starter) that was still too much for the both of us. absolutely delicious.

---
the following incident is still haunting me, it's deeply troubling to see just how far a person can fall and consider just how easy it is to do so. please don't read this if you're eating. a beggar was shuffling around the metro platform on his knees begging, which in itself is decidedly undignified. he then got up to approach two girls standing next to us, but he didn't move on when they refused. instead, he got this pained look on his face and doubled over for a second, after which some pee dribbled from his crotch to the floor. just then a well-dressed black man walked up to put some coins in his still outstretched hand, and told him to pick himself up and get a job: "three years ago i was where you are, man, and look at me; i got a job, and now have a home, a wife and three kids." the veracity of his story notwithstanding, one must question his assumption that this man is in the same position as he was. the beggar threw away the one cent coins and limped away with one hand cupping his butt. i presume that he didn't only piss himself.

---
friday:

we definitely didn't get enough sleep. after super quick packing we headed down to the grand central station, then i thought about the bus not being a train and google maps showed us the way.

getting on the bus was easy enough, and i spent the next hour or so quite disappointed that we'd picked seats that made it impossible to take photos of the majestic scenery.

i spent most of the trip finishing on the rain-slick precipice of darkness (the wrong way) and posting. my belly ached and i couldn't sleep comfortably. i felt exhausted but fine by the time we arrived in toronto, and after stopping for coffee we headed out to discover that it's not easy to get lost in downtown toronto. also, that the toronto underground isn't heated and that's just bloody weird. it's not nearly as cold as montreal, but i was feeling it more keenly :S

friday night with the family was great, minus my pouring far too much whiskey for myself.

---
saturday:

yesterday morning was slow and easy. two items seen on facebook increased my faith in humanity: people are awesome 2013 and j.k. rowling being awesome.

on the way to the bus my cousins took us for a really good thai lunch, and then we said goodbye.

conclusion for the day: niagara is prettier in winter. another google map fail scored us a short walk, but we found the hotel easily enough and the automated check-in was a pretty cool short cut. we got a nice hotel room - it's been years since i last stayed in an actual hotel room! - and we caught the view of the falls at dusk, walking along from opposite the american until the horseshoe, then taking my cold camera fingers to heat up while pg and i enjoyed delicious vegetarian mexican food and drank too much tequila (just kidding! it was a fine amount) at "tacos 'n tequila mexican cantina". we passed through the frankenstein haunted house (the live dude was pretty creepy), hit the house of fudge for double dark chocolate, then returned to our room for an extremely comfortable and elderly early night.

---
sunday:

i suffered violent south african dreams involving matric mates, new weapons tech and genocidal anti-semitism, then one about working on two start-ups with two people who turned out to be friends (this almost brought both down). i woke up to starbucks coffee and fudge for breakfast while snapping pics of the view and filling out more of this post.

for second breakfast i had hot oatmeal and home fries to balance things out, after which we were joined by k-twang and his fiancée for a glorious afternoon of tourism: pics by the falls, the games arcade (we won fingerboards! haven't played with them since we were kids), very funny bowling, an insanely huge indian lunch and air hockey. when they had to go we continued in the same vein, taking a turn on the ferris wheel and hitting another games arcade (i rule at dance dance revolution, pg kicks my ass at pirates of the caribbean pinball). afterwards i realized that we didn't have too many opportunities to get to the bus station left so we headed here; soon we'll be departing for montreal.

all in all, niagara was a silly, fun experience that has no relation to anything and afforded us an opportunity to catch up with family. not a bad weekend at all.

totoro-n-to part iv

[aaargh! i missed a blog post somehow. inserting this retroactively.]

---
saturday (20th):

i was feeling weak - it was possibly a protein thing.

in the newspaper i read about the zombie walk scheduled for that afternoon downtown. instead, the family took us for lunch at the local aroma (hah!) which was actually really nice (and they understand protein salads), and then we drove down ilan ramon avenue and continued off into the sticks to witness the turning a weekend too late to really be impressed. it was all very pretty, i'll admit, but not quite like the show we'd been treated to when we left montreal. the videos from the zombie walk were amazing.

i was exhausted by the time we got back, so i had a nap before pg and i were taken to a cousin to eat far too much sushi (well, i ordered the vegetarian options) and play settlers of catan with him and his wife. it was a fun evening!

---
sunday (21st):

TMI WARNING: i always thought that peeing in a dream meant peeing outside of the dream as well. apparently not. i was *very* relieved to discover that i hadn't relieved myself.

otherwise, i dreamed of an honest work ethic winning out.

i ate breakfast, then got stuck into the cic website. i got a little done before k-twang surprised us by arriving unannounced; we pretty much picked up where we left off. we spent a really pleasant day together meandering through downtown [noodles, kensington market with super slow coffee, half an exhibit and the fashion district with sweet potato fries, root beer and a non-dog], capping it off with a visit up the cn tower and eating thai food that made me cry. the drive back home was long,

the one thing that bothered me was at the cn tower: the photos that you take in front of a green screen when you walk in? there's only one way to see them, and that's to have them printed. it's against policy for them to turn the screen so you can get an idea. once they're printed (in triplicate, with magnets) and framed so nicely you're kinda guilted into buying them because otherwise it's your fault that they've gone to waste*. and they cost the most ridiculous amount of money!!! we're not stupid, and we'd paid enough just to ride the elevator.

* just kidding, that's bullshit. it's totally on them and their blatant disregard for the environment.

on our way to bed i discovered that my cousin's wife's into all sorts of crazy, but as i stood there smiling and nodding it dawned on me that she's not harming anyone with her beliefs and that they're as real to her as anything, so why not?

an early night ensued.

totoro-n-to part iii

well, we're on the train back, 3G service is terrible and our train car's wifi is even less reliable, so here i am on a six+ hour trip with my netbook rendered inferior to my kindle and typing this on my phone. joy. at least i'm finally getting around to this post :P

---
wednesday night (17th):

salt and vinegar lays are intensely delicious. i ate most of the large bag - boy, the jokes about the amount of air in them aren't exaggerated - while going through the bombardier career site updating my resume. i must be an expert job hunter now, because i now see why they kept sending me irrelevant listings and weren't interested in me otherwise. oh, twenty-twenty hindsight, you suck.

we got the packing done and hit the hay, worrying because we had absolutely no idea what kind of gift to take with and we didn't want to arrive empty-handed.

---
thursday (18th):

after a hurried start and quick travel, we arrived with time to spare. my blood pressure was up because transferring from the metro involved exiting through a luggage turnstile. the button was badly labelled, and once a fellow passenger had shown me how to operate it (good heavens, you'd think the metro official would have noticed) we could only get it to operate intermittently, and decidedly rude people kept coming through the other way (without luggage, and they could see me!) kept me stuck there with my temperature rising until eventually i just went through a normal gate with my 20kg luggage over my head.

assholes.

we sat at a dodgy diner for toast and orange juice, then slipped my iphone under the qr scanner and boarded the train. via's ticket system is awesome, and everyone should use it. fact.

trains are comfy, far better than aeroplanes, they have power sockets and sometimes even wifi. we took four seats, and were joined later by a sweet woman with her super-cute infant that was super-well-behaved until the train ride went into overtime (about half an hour).

i finished off the previous day's lays early on in the ride, searing my tongue with its flavor and having that burned sensation coloring the rest of my day. that didn't stop me from enjoying my swiss mousse-flavored chocolate:
on the jewish festival of simchat torah, tradition demanded that the kids in our synagogue would be handed giant slabs of chocolate because, well, all the adults were getting stupidly merry with whiskey and the little ones deserved to party too. it was after the handout that my lactose-intolerant self went missing one year, and my concerned aunt found herself running around crazily looking everywhere for me. she eventually found me: i had crawled into a secret space beneath a flight of stairs with TWO giant slabs, and was greedily wolfing them down like there was no tomorrow. my aunt, already flustered, flew back to my mother to inform her that trouble was afoot.

"eh, let him be. so he'll be sick!"

my aunt recounted this story to us a few nights ago, which i'd forgotten, and to tell you the truth i've never ceased to be that child under the stairs. pg was horrified when she looked up at me and the slab had disappeared.

i switched books to david wong - this book is full of spiders: seriously, dude, don't touch it, because i'm finding anna karenina boring.

after an email back-and-forth with the immigration lawyers, i had a pleasant chat with one who then sent me good tidings and some useful info along with a quote. the good news? i qualify for the simplified process. the bad news? approximately $2500 in legal fees.

i slept a bit and read some comics, hung on facebook (what an insufferable timesink!) and then we arrived in toronto. an hour late and with half an hour to go before our baggage was unloaded...

rush hour in the toronto subway system is madness, and my belly was unhappy. it took ages to find a food court with coffee and restrooms, but once we did we were ready to... shop for a gift. pg had a flash of inspiration and we wrapped up a pretty candle in a glass vase. [we discovered last night that they have a vast collection of similar vases stored in the basement. oh, well.]

getting on the right train was easy but we'd have to wait for my cousin who was stuck in a crazy traffic jam that had gridlocked the whole of north toronto. we'd spend another half an hour or so trying to go around it before eventually arriving at the house to pick up his wife and go out for dinner.

when we came home he taught me to use his professional coffee machine and then the ins and outs of canadian construction as i made holes in their wall looking for the source of the rainwater that was leaking into their kitchen. he's an engineer with some very cool toys, that man.

after all that studying, i cut my ridiculous beard down to size and passed out on the very different bed in our plush, elegant guest rooms.

---
friday (19th):

after a late sleep with dreams out of ready player one, we enjoyed a good breakfast followed by a discussion about who should pay the legal fees. i decided to consult with my aunt, and i'm very glad i did that before hinting to the boss that it would be on them. lawyers are an optional extra and the person who's choosing that path is me.

pg and i wanted to head into town, so we stopped for a pretty good lunch at mr. sub - apparently the worst, but not in our experience - and then caught the loooong bus to finch station. there we organized a day pass which is good value for money.

we landed up in eaton center, for clothing and book stores. we headed outside to discover that toronto's downtown can be really pretty (though either my camera was misbehaving or i was on the phone with my mother so i can't prove it). we wanted a snack and drinks but after waiting five minutes in a nice-looking place while some old guy flirted with the guy behind the counter we lost patience and headed back home.

it took two hours to get back home. it always takes at least that, and it's expensive because my cousins live in vaughan, which is kinda the next city over...

we were just in time for a vegan friday night dinner, and i was asked to say kiddush which made me so nervous that i couldn't pour the wine afterwards because my hands were shaking so badly.

i restored my sense of security by constructing a small fortress wall using whiskey, wine, beer and coffee.

we went to bed early, me with sore legs and a midnight pizza dream sensation with distinct acid-like awareness of my mortality.

other world

i'm still half asleep, i've been snoozing the alarm for twenty minutes because i finally managed to get comfortable. it's pouring outside, and cold, and the duvet temperature is *just* right; the reality of getting up to pack up the holiday and venture outside is just being mean.

ambling improvement

i got most of the permit stuff done (from my side), and later had a long chat with the self-declared "busybody" who's not only really sweet* but also agrees with my plan for the permit handling. between now and monday we should have everything we need ready. fingers crossed, people.

* she was explaining montreal and trying to figure out if she can help us with an apartment and pg with a job.

the day began at the science museum, which is cool enough that as adults we could easily spend half a day there happily. we then hit downtown to meet [takes over an hour trawling through blog posts to realize that he hasn't transcribed all the canadian entries from 2010. DOH!] supertongue (speaks five languages fluently, talks at least as much as me, and is a loud-and-proud lesbian); it was very exciting for us to meet in toronto again. this time we stopped for a quick bite (that i doggie-bagged and had to carry around until dinner time) and a long walk to the village where we sat down for coffee, with never a quiet moment and even pg getting in on the action: great success!

afterwards, pg and i walked *all* the way back and then hunted for the curiously awesome shop we'd seen totoro dolls in... we didn't find it (we turned back too soon, we found out later) but we did enjoy our walk through toronto's vibier districts. very cool. and quite pretty.

we then took a subway and a bus home, arriving about two hours later, ate, sat with my cousin for a fascinating conversation about audaciousness, professionalism and appropriate responses to a lack of the latter, and then my wooziness caught up with me so we all called it a night.

and i thought i'd just sneak in a quick post before going to sleep...

totoro-n-to part i

there are two reasons i haven't posted in such a long time: we've been busy, or i've been too tired, or i've been horrifically sick. i'm going to catch up in parts, beginning (as is my wont) at the end.

---monday:
i started my day with a protein shake / meal replacement* and comics - comixology's selection includes at least one french comic (valentine, i thought it might help), the new lookouts and skullkickers, which i've been meaning to look at for a while now.

* herbalife - it has cow extract in it but it seemed reasonable and tasted good

we arrived downtown hungry - it takes a while to get all the way into toronto from where we're staying - and decided to check out the hard rock cafe. just because. in spite of their creepy shrine to nickleback** we sat down, pg going with the fish and chips and myself hoping that the "veggie leggie" would be vegetarian friendly. it certainly didn't taste amazing. at any rate, it was a pleasant place to breakfast and the service was great.

** not a big fan

we then entered a couple of jewellery stores to be overwhelmed by salesmanship and our inability to distinguish value from the merely tacky. not that we don't know what *looks* right. as i tweeted: "omg i have a new nightmare scenario. looking for an engagement ring. i think the shopping is the true symbol of my commitment".

i sat out the rest of the shopping experience in the starbucks, digging into david wong - this book is full of spiders: seriously, dude, don't touch it and totally loving it. i don't even feel guilty about pressing pause on anna karenina.

we were going to do other things - touristy things - before heading back but then realized that it was already pretty late. our return home involved stopping for pizza (i had a bite just to taste, it wasn't good), my walking in front of pg with a shopping bag on my shoulder to protect her from the sun because the next stop was a lot further away than we thought, a long wait between buses, a canadian version of the loud barbarian who sits at the back of the bus and shares all his calls with the other passengers, a quick stop for sweets and then the wrong choice between another bus or what should have been a quick walk home. my iphone's gps wasn't playing nice, and we arrived ten minutes late and sweaty for dinner. at least everyone else was late too, so we could shower and eat respectably.

after a pleasant dinner, one of my cousins informed me about myvega, which i'll be checking out when we return to montreal, and then pg and i turned in for the night.

---tuesday:

we don't know if what happened next was caused by breakfast or the dodgy pizza, but PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR THE WEAK-OF-STOMACHE AND MAY CONTAIN TOO MUCH INFORMATION. IT'S MY JOURNAL, THIS IS HOW IT WORKS.

pg hadn't been feeling well since a little before dinner, and by the time we returned to our rooms she was already ill and being sick. i sat on the bed reading comics and feeling sorry for her... but i also felt a bit woozy.

suddenly, i guess about an hour later, i felt really, really sick as well. the two of us spent the entire night taking turns becoming intimately familiar with the toilet, and let me tell you that groveling in front of the can is an extremely humbling experience.

on the one hand, i'm glad we're here because our accommodation in montreal is not as forgiving. on the other, if we hadn't been in toronto we might not have gotten food poisoning.

pg started before me and ended before me: i saw daybreak before i was emptied enough to rest, and all i really had to go on was ugly nightmares during the longer pauses between bathroom runs. and to make matters worse, my temperature was all over the place and i was either shivering violently from the cold (fully dressed and under two duvets) or overheating and sweating profusely (even uncovered, although it's pretty cold already so that never lasted too long).

i can't say it didn't feel like a taste of hell. i can't think of a more horrible experience i've had, and it was certainly our worst together.

i was terribly weak from the get-go: there were many times that i had to sit and rest on my way to or from the bathroom, twice that i was very glad that the plastic bag in the trash can next to our bed didn't have holes in it, and it was only late yesterday afternoon that i managed to get myself all the way downstairs for a cup of tea. my cousin organized us gatorade a bit later and that kept us going for a while.

a pity that i couldn't keep last night's meal of three forkfuls of well-chewed dry rice down. it fascinates me that i almost always, throughout the experience, felt much better after throwing up... even if only for a few minutes. after that last time i actually had enough energy to get upstairs and into bed.

---today:

i *must* have been running a fever, because i think it broke this morning. i showered, had another cup of tea, and took a phone call from the woman in the company who's dealing with my permit paperwork. she started giving me advice on food poisoning before stopping mid-sentence to remark that i already have a jewish mother around if i'm with family so she'll stick to being my jewish mother when i'm in the office :P

aside from an hour or two dealing with that stuff, i spent most of the day resting or reading. in the afternoon i managed some dry toast and in the evening i was all set for seconds of dry pasta and an apple. hopefully tomorrow i'll be back to eating more food than i can list because we only have two more days of toronto left!

so much for our trip to niagara. it's a good excuse to come back in winter when it's all frosty, i guess.

get out of the oven!

did somebody forget how hot and sticky it is in israel during summer? i'm dying here, people!

friday morning was grand - depressing, but nice in spite of the knowledge that i was leaving. woke up slowly, packed, and then we all went to the market to organize sushi. *excellent* sushi. the nice drive round parts of montreal i hadn't yet seen also went down well.

then we were off to the airport, for another tearful farewell (my aunt's good at that), and then i was rushed through to my plane to toronto (with a promise from the check-in counter that my luggage would go straight to tel aviv).

the first flight was alright, and in toronto i walked straight through to the shuttle to my next flight. i didn't see border control anywhere, so i guess i'm officially still in canada.

unfortunately, i had an hour to wait, and not only is the building non-smoking, but OUTSIDE TOO. the building is situated in the middle of all the runways... DAMMIT! so i bought a couple of magazines, munched some m&m's, and eventually we boarded.

a harsh, 12 hour reminder that aeroplane seats are designed for people without legs. not only was the kid behind me playing with his seatbelt the entire flight (enough clicking will get on your nerves), but the little girl in front kept holding down the button and bouncing back and forth. i went bananas, and nobody could stop her from doing it.

so yeah, that was a pretty sucky flight. i hear my mom's was worse, but that doesn't make me feel better. i think i slept about half an hour or so. i spent a lot of the waking hours hating myself for returning to uniform.

i discovered, to my complete and utter surprise, really, that my luggage is still in canada. notice the use of present tense. i hopped on the train (and luckily didn't get caught - i used my soldier's id for a free ride) and went to the base. aside from picking up my keys, and going for lunch with the kid (although after two weeks of good food, i couldn't bring myself to eat any of that crap), and some milling around and appreciating the beautiful bums the girls sport here, i waited two hours to speak to my commander. who managed to sneak out when i wasn't looking.

disappointed, i caught the bus home. my stuff's all there, which DID surprise me, and i showered and read myself to sleep.

aside from an hour or two in the late evening, when i spoke to my mom to hear about the horrors of her trip (and it really was horrific), i slept soundly until 3am.

AAARGH! and i'd slept too much, so i just lay in bed reading until my alarm went off. i shaved, and hurried off to the base (forgetting my shoes, so i'm stuck in uniform at work, which SUCKS), pretty much straight to work. oh, and i made a neat 9 month calendar (the amount of time i have left), with each month a picture of the appropriate phase in a foetus' development.

the work today (and i'll be continuing tomorrow) was extremely frustrating. my commander was in meetings the entire day, i literally didn't get two seconds to talk to him. i cleared out my 150+ new emails, sewed on one of my new ranks, and other than that had a particularly boring day.

i came straight to work, and have been in the thick of it since i got here. did some conniving with yogi. conniving is always fun. can't talk about it yet. sorry. and i have actually gotten a lot of work done. and eaten a good hamburger; i was desperate for food - i'm still not craving mess-hall trash.

considering the fact that the following thoughts consumed me for most of my trip, i've decided to jot them down:

i live in the future. i always have. it's why i dress the way i do, i why i plan do the things i haven't shut up about (IRL). so i'm constantly thinking about my possibilities, specifically from my release date next year.

1) i sign on 3 extra years, assuming that they make me an offer i can't refuse (and can't talk about, sorry)

2) i stay on at work a couple of months, to make starting money and enjoy a bit of summer out of uniform

3) i return to sa for a couple of months - i need minor surgery, and i'm not doing it when alone in israel

4a) i go off to japan, to seek work in vr / aerospace, and if i'm unsuccessful then just to have a holiday there and spend time with hido

4b) i go to the states, where i join SxS in building an empire (with me primarily focused on vr)

4c) i go to canada, to work in gaming / aerospace (they have some good places to start) or to do research in mcgill university (have contact, will travel).

so that's about it at the moment. not to mention much thoughts about starting a family; but those are just arbitrary.

right, i'm off.

*need* to stretch

we got up around 7am to say goodbye to our cousins. they don't have any coffee in the house that's not decaf. that was difficult.
i had a shower, we got packed and ready, and drove off.

we found real coffee, but - as usual after a stop - went the wrong way when we resumed driving, and lost about 45 minutes.

we stopped at a walmart. walmart is impressive.

lunch was in kingston... narrowly avoided accidentally driving into one of the prisons; that was embarrassing. had a good hamburger, then continued on our merry way.

i kinda overdid the coffee on the last stop - i ordered an ice-cream and coffee, and ended up with coffee and ice-coffee. of COURSE i drank them both. instantly wired.

we hit rush hour traffic entering montreal, and got home around 6.30pm - in time to go out for supper. i had serious seafood pasta - i love squiggly things that you eat whole! after dinner, we went for too-good ice-cream, and i bombed out completely when we got home. i'm passing out at the keyboard, i'll describe my *wonderful* wake-up later.

niagara falls

i slept really well. like a log, without the woodchips.

we drove off towards niagara, beginning the day with starbucks, and getting ripped off AGAIN with self-service fill-up.

for moonflake, and any other potential touristy types: never use foreign credit cards for self-service, just pay with cash. i'm positive it's a problem on the side of discoverer, but either way we spent $30 both times, and both times got charged $120+ in rand. that's messed up, and according to the guys here they definitely didn't charge more than the amount listed on the receipt.

anyway, it was a long drive to get to niagara-on-the-lake, which is a quaint little tourist trap, but pretty. then we went up to the falls. i must admit, they look impressive in photos but after seeing the victoria falls in zimbabwe... nothing special. VERY tourist trappish. LOADS of tourists. LOADS of tasteless casinos and badly done "fun" things to do. rather irritating, actually.

loooooong drive back, hitting rush hour traffic and taking a wrong turn that added half an hour to our mission. filled up again, this time with cash, and have just gotten back to base. now we're off to eat out.

travelling! and getting lost!

i did get a response from that waitress, so i'll be contacting her as soon as i get back to montreal ;)

woke up yesterday at 7.30am, to begin transporting things and people between houses in preparation for the journey. we said our goodbyes, left montreal in my aunt's rav4, and drove to ottawa.

stopping, of course, at some truck stops along the way. traditional, with tim horton's coffee and wendy's (not bad at all, and i normally *hate* fast food).

we walked around the parliament buildings in ottawa, went past a very fancy book store / starbucks (they sell "african red bush tea", i was horrified), and then visited the national gallery.

absolutely brilliant exhibitions. before going in all i could think of was finding a bed and napping a few hours, but we kinda got stuck there for a while.

we then drove to the outskirts of the city, took a room in a movie-style motel, and drove around a bit more (because we hadn't done enough of that, yet). we got munchies and antihistamines at the drug store, and then had REAL pizza for supper, before returning to the motel.

i watched an episode of stargate sg1 on the space channel, then passed out watching an episode of star trek.

we started off the day with coffee and doughnuts... i made the mistake of reading the paper, so i know about the soldier-child who was kidnapped. bummer.

we left the motel, and made our way to the science museum. very, very nice. we had fun for a couple of hours - although the simulation "mission to mars" was notably uninspiring.

we then left for toronto. we stopped off in a small town for lunch (at subway), then coffee (at tim horton's; how surprising!), and then accidentally got onto the wrong highway. we figured it wouldn't be a problem. a couple of hours later we realized that we'd been driving in the direction of vancouver, and were closer to the north pole than we'd anticipated :P

we filled up with petrol before beginning our travels through the smalltowns and hickvilles, getting ripped off at a self-service for about $100. that kinda sucked, and has taught us not to use self-service in the future. and we'd been all proud of ourselves for managing :(

smalltowns and hickvilles were amusing. we eventually entered toronto around 7.30pm, and met my cousin at his office. we followed him home, went out to get beers, had a fantastic meal, and have just finished a long chat session, so we're all off to bed.