"And if anything about this flight or the service doesn’t meet your standards, please feel free to lower those standards!"

I went to Moon Unit’s church on Sunday! She attends a Reform Presbyterian church. This was the first time I’d attended that particular denomination, and it was quite interesting. I realized the bulk of my church attendance, that I remember, at least, has been either Highly liturgical, fairly Charismatic, or home churching. And this was none of the above. 😀 *thinks* There’s stained glass, and no organ or piano? How do I cope?!? 

However, I liked it. There wasn’t the mega-church effect that inspires panic attacks in me, I agreed with the theology I heard, and the people seemed genuinely friendly, without stalking the new people. Also, there was coffee after the service, and then potluck. *big grin* Free food? I’m there! 

Then we had to go back home, get my luggage together, check for things left behind, and go to the airport. *cut to Moon Unit and I remaining determinedly up-beat the whole way, despite shakiness* We got caught in a small amount of traffic on the way. Not much, but just enough to make getting checked in and through security more URGENT than usual. 

So I checked in, in a matter of less then ten minutes- God Bless West Jet- and hurried down through security. Zaktrik had come to see me off as well, which was nice of him. At that point of panic about missing my flight, however, I waved, said good-bye, and dashed off through security with a minimum of protracted farewells to anyone. And I made my flight with minute to spare, which I am sure is a tribute to the power of prayer. 

However, once we got to Toronto, it chanced that only one of the runways was open. So we circled the city for some time. 

While we were circling, I realized, with a shocking lack of panic, that I had 35 minutes to make my connection. Before I started being delayed. Mmmmm. Well, if I got stuck in Toronto, I know people to call! And there’s free internet, I could go to the Lush store, and it would make a great blog entry! Yes, that is the way I think, in actuality. However, we landed only a few minutes late, and I started walking quickly through the airport. Speed walk… And while speed walking, I hear the final boarding call for my flight come over the intercom. That is a marvelously motivational thing to hear. You find that your speed walking in heels can indeed accelerate even faster. 

Fast enough to see two other women closing in on your gate just ahead of you, and the door still open! Yay! We scurried down the tunnel onto the plane, the door closing behind me, and hurried to our respective seats. Whereupon we then sat on the tarmac for ten extra minutes, while the one usable runway was opened up. Air travel is so logical, timeline wise… 

Then I got into St. Johns, yadda yadda yadda, got my baggage, blah blah blah, took a taxi to Ms. B’s house, yabbla yabbla yabbla, went to ring her to let her know I was there- and she doesn’t have her apartment set up with a bell. Okay, I seem to remember something like this in the planning session. I am just gonna call her cell phone. Only I don’t have a cell phone. Right. Okay, I’ll ring the other people in the building who I know. They don’t answer. No need to panic, no need to panic, I’ll just log onto the internet- I have the password from when I stayed here before- and msn her that I’m here. A quick check later, I can’t see her internet router. Maybe panic is a good idea… No, wait! I can just sleep here on the bench in the lobby until someone comes in, and get them to let me into the building! Only, I seem to remember that it’s almost 1 o-clock, and I’ve heard complaining rumors about people coming in loaded drunk after midnight to this building, making all kinds of noise… So, uh, uh, uh, I’ll go out and throw rocks at her window! Sadly, (and yes I am saddened by this, at this hour), I can’t identify which one is her window. It’s a three story building, and even shouting in my best WHERE-ARE-THE-NEFARIOUS-TRAITORS-WHO-HAVE-COMMITTED-THIS-TERRIBLE-TRESPASS voice does not provoke a magical turning on of lights or head at the door. 

This is about where I sat down on my luggage in the wet grass and reassessed my situation. It was after midnight. I was tired. I had no phone. I had no cash. I apparently had no place to stay. I was in the student ghetto. It was dark (but not raining!) 

What to do? I could go to the mall, which I could see, only they close at night. And so does the Tim’s in the mall, obviously. And so does the University library, oddly enough. But there, there’s the hospital! I can see it! Open 24 hours! And I know people there, I know the cafeteria, I even know where there are vacant couches! Plus, I only have to get on the bus in 6 hours, now. I can stay awake for six hours, if needed. Right? Right. Cue me standing up and getting ready to progress down the street. But then one little niggling bit of social graces in the back of my head mentioned that it’d be hard to explain why I didn’t show up at Ms. B’s apartment, after making all those arrangements. Plus I might need to explain to my parents…. I decided to try the other doors in the fire escape and such. Just in case. So I could say I really couldn’t get in- oh look this one opens i don’t have to sleep on the side of the hallway!

And I got inside, had a lovely time chatting and not sleeping with Ms. B, slept on the bus, and made it home without further drama. I even had a welcoming committee. 

The committee had put up a banner for me. 😀

"You whip out a couple of swords at your ex-girlfriends wedding. They will never, ever forget it. "

Due to the late night on Friday, Rose stayed the night at Moon Unit’s house. And in the morning, one of the things we did was take a ramble around Moon Unit’s property. It’s pretty, I see why Moon Unit likes it. *nods* According to tradition, I took pictures and walked into tree branches.

 You’ll notice there are no pictures of me here? That’s because I am nefariously clever and deflected any picture-taking by taking all the pictures anyone might possibly want myself, and also because I caught a branch or two with my face. No, no pictures, please. 

And then we went and met up with Zaktrik and Rose’s older brother and his friend in the nearby town of /Location Censored/. We were going to watch Wolverine, which had just come out. In the Theatre! *jazz hands* I’m usually about a three hour drive away from a theatre, so I don’t get in to see movies much. And this was a very fun one. 

[Movie thoughts]

Characters;

• Deadpool was lovely, until he stopped talking. My title is one of his lines. 
• I less than three Bolt/Bradley. All his lights. *grins* 
• Sabertooth was lame and insane.
• Gambit needs his own movie. How Gambit Breaks Out Of The Island, yes plz?
• Cyclops was shiny when he wasn’t being a microphone for Professor X. 
• Agent Zero was shiny when he was fighting, and lame otherwise.
• Wolverine was not as much fun as when he was in the X-men movies. 

Plot;

• There was a plot?

Overall;

• If you didn’t like the X-men movies, don’t go and see it. It has the same flavor as the previous three.
• The fight scenes were EXCELLENT. 
• The music was good. 

[/Movie thoughts]

"You couldn’t kiss me like that and not mean it just a teensy bit!" "Meet the greatest actor who ever lived. I’d rather kiss a tarantula."

Friday night was Movie Night! We’re so awesome, we had to start our “night” at 4:30, with punch and doughnuts and pizza and root beer and, uh, pie. A whole bunch of Moon Unit’s friends from homeschooling events and such came over, and we completely took over the (fortunately soundproof) family room. Fortunately I already had met quite about half of the attendees, which included Zaktrik, Boudewijn, and Rose! *cheering is heard* 

However, it has been brought to my attention that apparently Rose, Moon Unit and I all look rather similar. Something about our hair colour, glasses, eccentric dress and deranged manner. And to further confound the issue, apparently Rose and I have a similar manner of standing in corners and watching people. At any rate, one of the guests walked up and hugged me when she walked in. Moon Unit said, “Oh, *Joss,* this is *Snazel*, who you’ve heard a lot about-” and Joss jumped back, mortified. “Oh, I thought you were *Rose*!” This served as a good ice breaker, in fact, especially since when Rose arrived everyone had to tell her the story.

And then we had supper, which was lovely. You know, I was gonna caption these pictures, but on looking at them, I really don’t think it’s necessary. 

Interesting how we had the Young group, the Old group, and the Cool group. With partial overlaps. But still. 

Anyhow, we watched Singin’ in the Rain first. It’s an older movie, 1952, and hilarious. You should all see it. 😀 It’s a musical, as you may have noticed from the title, and knows it’s a musical. Doesn’t take its self too seriously? Lots of lovely quotes- my title is one- and pretty song and dance routines. 

Reload and regroup for movie two! We made another punch bowl, broke into the squares, and settled in for MirrorMask. This one’s written by Neil Gaiman, which, if you’re familiar with that writer, gives you a fair idea the film. The majority of it is inside a dream, for one. Moon Unit was describing it to people as “very trippy.” It just looks so different, all kinds of different. *looks at what she’s just written* Did I actually say “all kinds of different?” Impressive. *cough* Anyway… I’d watched it once before, with Third World and Moon Unit, after midnight while studying for exams. And my initial impression of “this is so on drugs. But I like it!” was reaffirmed. I could pay attention to little things this time, instead of just being confused over the plot. I’m not sure if those who hadn’t seen it liked it, though. It is a very strange film. 

When we were done with MirrorMask, it was still only 8:30. And since going home then would just be toooo “homeschooler,” a label we’re all eager to avoid- *chokes* *coughing fit*- we decided to watch another! Enter Signs, which I hadn’t seen, though most everyone else had. I don’t scream in scary movies, I’ll just say that right now, but I definitely flinch. It worked out that we had the screamers on one side of the room, and the flinchers on the other side. 😀 I nearly crushed Moon Unit’s hand at one point. Look, when you’re in a dark room with eerie film playing, you want to know where someone else is! Right? Right. *serious nod* And it wasn’t my favorite movie of all time, but it was interesting. And jumpy, at least for several people, as I believe I mentioned. Hands poking out from under doors just do interesting things to my heart rate. 

And then it was 11:30, and everyone went home, secure in the knowledge that they’d done their part towards not being “Homeschoolers.” 😀

~I can’t think of anything clever to put here~

Sunday, we’d planned for Moon Unit and I to go to Zaktrik’s church. However, we didn’t know exactly where it was, so he was going to stop by the college and pick us up at about 9:30. And then we would go attend his Anglican-Catholic church. This was a good plan, don’t you think? Yes, a good plan. 

However, it was not to be. 

Zaktrik overslept. 

I’d like to be able to take shift some of the blame off from him by saying that the Augustine socializing of the day before had extended till midnight, after which he’d had to go home. I could also say that he hadn’t been getting enough sleep for the previous six weeks of writing papers and exams, or that there was a power bump in the night- but it wouldn’t make any difference. I could also point out that I haven’t made a practice of attending liturgical churches, uh, ever, and that attending “normal” charismatic churches usually inspires panic attacks of some kind, but still.*shakes head sadly* The fact remains- he overslept. On Sunday. And we didn’t go to church. We’re such heathens. 

It’s tragic, really. We had to hang out at the college drink tea, eat chocolate cake and leftover veggies from the dinner yesterday, and discuss everything under the sun, while lolling around the living room of a Christian College. The horror. 

Oh, we also took some pictures. That is, I took some pictures. It was very exciting. 

Zaktrik finds something amusing. 

TTGH is also amused. About the same thing? I’m not sure. 

Moon Unit watches the Serbians across the street. 

Laptop, tea, books, pepsi, quilts, bowl of strange candy, and sunshine. Still life with Augustine College.

And then later Moon Unit’s parents came and picked up her and myself, and we went back to her house out in the country. 

"How did you get here?" "I took a bus, a shuttle and two planes, and caught a ride with Moon Unit’s parents."

On Friday night, after arriving safely in Ottawa, Moon Unit and I hung out at mocked and stalked the College and met this year’s crop of insane students, as well as several alumni from previous years. And then Moon Unit and I kept each other awake for far too long, talking and laughing. 

And then Saturday was the grad! In traditional form, most of the class came over to the College early to be nervous and offer adjectives for the Valedictorian’s speech. So we hung out drank tea, talked about papers and vegetables, and were companionable for a little, and then walked over to the church where the service was taking place. 

Ruth enjoys the tea and scones.

Em and TTGH are amused.

Em and TTGH are serious. 

We reconvened in the sunny living room once the boys started to arrive.

Moon Unit and TTGH are companionable. 

The service was quite similar to last year’s, only this time I sat on the other side of the church, and I didn’t get a piece of paper with Latin on it. *dejected* But I got to wear a lovely black robe again!  Here is a pic of the graduating class, and a view of the church. It’s a high Anglican church, in case that’s not obvious from the candles, iconography, and general decor. 

After the service was the dinner, where according to tradition, the Alumni help serve the food and clean up. Which, given the hilarious and hardworking people who are Augustine Alumni, is actually oodles of fun. And it continued to be fun, despite the fact that the dishwashing took approximately two to three hours. After about 90 minutes time ceased to exist in the normal fashion. I just know that it was light when we got there, and dark and raining when we left. I was rather tired as well, so that might contribute to the haziness of my memory of that afternoon. 😀 The professors didn’t know that I was coming either, so I had some fun moments when they did double-takes at me. 

And then we went back to the college and hung out drank tea, ate cake, and took pictures. I offer you a selection of the best pictures, for your eternal edification. 

There was a moment when, for unknown reasons, my hat started being passed around the room. And my camera was following it, taking pictures.

Write more later!

"I’m not quite down with the way they roll/ they throw knives from their eyes at my parasol."

Si vales, valeo!

I bought an airline ticket! Moreover, it is not Air Canada, which causes me much joy. My, it is nice knowing that if my flight gets canceled due to flooding or bomb threats or freak snow storms of mechanical failure, I am covered. Not that getting stuck in airports isn’t interesting, but it does also tend to mess up the schedule. 

And why, you ask, did I buy an airline ticket? Was it just for the wonderful experience of modern economy air travel? No, I answer, it was not. You see, on Monday I was startled to find out that I get paid vacation time at work, and I needed to figure out when I was taking it. Like, NOW I needed to figure out when I was taking time off. Cue me sitting on my bed staring at a schedule and panicking. One of the options I was leaning towards was popping over to Europe for a week and climbing around castles. However, traveling Europe alone, for my first Vacation, (read: I’m not an experienced traveler), didn’t really seem safe. I need someone to watch my luggage while I’m on the train, and stuff. And I was unable to find someone to commit to European travel for a week in the summer on twenty minutes notice. *sigh* People are so unimaginative, all hung up about work terms, and internships, and money, and study terms…. Just jesting, you know I jest. Well, not about the not being able to find someone, but about the fact that I am vexed at people for not being available for two weeks in England. *cough* 

Moving on! The next option that came to mind was; Visit People! It was right about then that I remembered that my College, (Augustine College– you should go), has a graduation this year. Just like last year, in fact. However, this year I am an Alumnus- Alumna- Alumnas- I am a person who has successfully graduated, and the fact that I remember none of my Latin has absolutely no bearing on that fact. Moreover, it is an Augustinian tradition, of sorts, to attend later graduations in full stately robes and sarcasm, and pat the students fondly on their sleep-deprived heads. ALSO, (yes, there were more reasons,) Em is still at the college, Moon Unit is in town and will be attending, Moon Unit’s friend Zaktrik is graduating, Lord willing, and some of the other alumni might be there as well! 

Then, I looked at air costs for the two days I was going to be traveling. Lo and behold, not only were the two flights the lowest fares within 28 days, what with airline costs and such the cost of the ticket was still just covered by my shiny new Visa card. At this point, I was clearly receiving divine signs. And who am I to tamper in the divine plan? I bought the tickets. 😀

All joking aside, though, I am continually amazed at how obvious and easy things are when that’s what God wants me to do/where God wants me to be. Problems just take one look at me and melt away. 

Anyway, that’s my news. And I’m excited to travel and take my first ever professional vacation, and I’m trying not to count down the days from TOO far in advance. 

"There has never been anything false about hope?"

We’ve been talking politics at the breakfast and supper table again, which is lovely. Nothing like a healthy dose of cynicism and conspiracy truth to make you cheery! *big grin* On a totally unrelated note; to my friends in the states, we have a spare room in the house and a lot of places in town are hiring! We could hang out! Ahem.

Moving right along…

My brain has been feeling muzzy for days, but on Monday it really got bad, due to a touch of the flu that’s going around. By bad, I mean I was having serious difficultly telling reality from imagination. By process of elimination I’m pretty sure the time in line in Toronto Airport was not real. But other than the physically improbable events, I kinda have no idea what I did. If I talked to you on Monday, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I said. *cough* But then I slept for fifteen hours and now I’m fine! *is normal and borderline sane*

What else is new? Oh, I’m starting to think about what I might possibly do after I pay off my debt! One big option is to go to a university. My year at Augustine is worth a year and a half on transfer in at least one place, which is quite good. However, I’m not really a big fan of the post-secondary to get a high paying job school of thought. For one thing, I’m not really feeling called towards any degree program that does promise high wages upon graduation, and I don’t think I have the dedication or talents to get my doctorate and teach within a college. Which leaves the earn-a-philosophy-bachelors-to-get-a-high-paying-job option. Somehow that’s not calling me very loudly either. However, someone, (you probably know who you are,) pointed out that you can ALSO go to university for the pure joy of learning! *vistas of joy open up*

And then, I looked at costs and asked some people in University their opinion of it from the inside. I’m looking at about fourteen thousand a term, with tuition, living expenses, books, travel, and occasional entertainment. *enthusiasm dampens somewhat* Moreover, the reaction from most of the people I asked about university from the inside was “good idea to go back to school! (watch out for debauchery.)” *enthusiasm dampens more* It was rather startling how uniform the reactions were, really, after being adjusted for dialect and personality. 

So now I’m leaning more towards option two; Backpack across Europe! It costs less, with the right travel companions you learn as much, and it makes for much better photo albums. Also I want to clamor around in castles again. And I could learn languages! *enthusiasm is fanned to full flame* Does anyone want to come with me? You don’t need a Visa!

Yesterday I walked to the other end of town and back, which is a fun walk. (The turn around point is Tim Horton’s, for one.) I decided to be wild and crazy and wear my lovely new red coat and my pin-striped fedora, so I got a lot of stares. I do tend to dress a little different from the average citizen of this town, it’s true. Walking out of Tim’s was especially amusing, given all the puzzled and/or shocked eyes on my back. I was also wild and crazy in that I was carrying my camera, so here are a couple pics of my walk! (The order got jumbled, I’m not sure why.)

The Government Wharf

Busy Downtown!

Yes, we have proper snow clearing equipment. 

Yes, those are rabbits, hanging off a step ladder. 

"Oh everyone believes/ in how they think it oughta be/ oh everyone believes/ and they’re not goin quietly.."

As you may have noticed, last night was New Year’s Eve. The night for ROWDY PARTIES. Following in that honourable tradition, my family watched Wall-E. And to top it off, we had popcorn. Living on the wild side, I know. Then Fraulein and I watched Stick It, which was entertaining. In retrospect, if has occurred to me that I’ve never actually gone to a “New Year’s Party.” Probably because I’ve gone to very few parties in general. Ahem. But after the countdown, I happily received a phone call from Em, Moon Unit, and Moon Unit’s friend Zaktrik. They’re in EST, so they had an hour and a half to spare for chatting, which was very fun. Though I’m afraid, due to the hour, I wasn’t very coherent. *offers apologies*

Something that I forgot to mention, is that PT was home for Christmas, and then his GF came to visit for several days afterwards. I chiefly forgot to mention it because it was so natural to have them around. They’re both very fun people. And I’m not just saying that becuase PT’s my brother. 😀

Seeing the date, I suppose this is the time for me to offer up some New Year’s Resolutions, eh?

1. I have eight grand left on my debt, and I’d like to have that gone by the time I’ve been at my new job a year. Yes, that works out to a grand a month, with one month’s leeway. 
2. Finish Expendables! I want to get that story out of my head, and one edit done. At least fix the chronological issues, for example.
3. Get into some kind of shape other than couch potato, and stay in that non-potato shape.
4. Oh, and work on being contented where God has placed me. I need to learn to stop fretting to be somewhere else; if God wanted me to be in another place, I’d be there. 😀

That’s the only things that come to mind, but I think they’ll be challenging enough to try and pull off.