I was out with Stacey tonight. It was good fun. I was really late to meet her, though, because the Dufferin bus just stinks to high heaven. First I wait for nearly 20 minutes, during rush hour, no less, and then three pass the stop because they're too full to take more passengers. Hello, do you see a problem here? I think that maybe MORE buses for rush hour would be a help. Meh, what do I know?

I ended up sleeping until sometime after 1pm, which was sooooo nice. Oh man. I did some chores, and then showered before leaving to meet Stacey. We walked from the ROM to Sneaky Dee's for dinner - the marvellous King's Crown nachos and the Veggie Plate. Oh, wow, so delicious it was ! We each had a pint of Amsterdam, hers blonde, mine nut brown. It's a nice, rich ale without being too heavy. No, the nachos were plenty heavy. I may never get out of this chair again, I'm so full. I'm amazed I made it home at all.

Tomorrow, I'm going to get Star Wars tickets for myself, Rick, and Tanya, and if Al and Carrie call, maybe they'll come too. I'm still going to see if I can track down some other people to join us. Maybe I'll call Eric M. He used to be so much fun at movie openings. And hey, maybe Nick will come... and Evelyn ! Whee. I shall ask. Actually, I don't even know if Evelyn is for sure coming to visit, but, whatever.

Anyway, I must get some stuff together to take with me tomorrow for home and cottage. It's not going to be all fun, I have to go up and check out the damage to the deck and the beaver situation. Apparently it's really, really bad. Well, I'll go up on Saturday and have a look.

You know what's weird? My CAT is weird. She's sleeping in my bookshelf right now. Between the books. Bizarre.

Anyway, I just thought I would add to the proof that the world is absolutely going insane. Holland had it's first political assassination. While part of me cheers because he was a right-wing, half-facist bastard, assassination is still disgusting. At least, for a change, it wasn't one of the good guys being shot, but I doubt the man's family would agree. It's sad. The Netherlands have been such a voice of reason to the world since the second world war, and now everything is turned upsidedown. It wasn't enough that the entire parliament had resigned due to their belief that they were responsible for a Yugoslav town's sacking. They were unprepared, but it wasn't their fault. Even the best guardians can fail sometimes. But now this.

On a positive note, an old Gestapo officer has been put on trial in Hamburg, Germany. Naturally, he's giving the 'only following orders' excuse. I can accept it from a nazi soldier. The soldiers were just that, soldiers. Most of them were the remains of a tattered and impoverished army that was happy to serve again, for a while, anyway. But the Gestapo? Hah, not quite your average infantry, I'm afraid. Okay, so maybe this wasn't exactly positive, but it wasn't exactly negative, either.

I think I want to say a lot of things, to talk about a lot of things that are upsetting me, but there's hardly a way for me to express it in even half-accurate words. Last Friday, outside the ROM, there was a group of Muslim and Jewish people standing in a peaceful protest to have the war in Israel/Palestine brought to a close. It made me sad. I don't know what's wrong with people. Part of me doesn't want to contemplate the world I'm entering into.

Well, now that I've brought the general mood down, I'll just go away. Tomorrow I have a dinner/drinks date with Stacey, from the ROM. We haven't socialised in months, so this will be good. Another good thing is that my half-sister, Gina, emailed me a picture of her from around Christmas time. My God, she is beautiful. She is stunning. I hope she, and Nicole (the youger one), pass through adolescence without succumbing to the awful things this world has to offer. It would be a tragedy. Anyway, it's very nice to be talking to them again, and now with the regularity of email, it's even better. It's more immediate, and sometimes more candid.

Anyway, I've wasted another few minutes, putting off going to bed for no good reason. Goodnight, lovers.

Holy crap ! Do a google search for mambolica (me) and... there I am !

I would never have thought that Honest Ed's (the enormous discount wannabe department store in town) would have people lining up outside before it opens. I remarked about it to my cabbie (since I was running late, a taxi was the only choice I had) and he thought it was bizarre too, but apparently they're there every morning. Maybe if you don't get there early, all the bargain cutlery runs away. Or something.

Barbequing didn't work out last night, nor did my window fixings. It seems Nick had been awake since Saturday and when I got home, he'd passed out. He'd better not be asleep tonight, though, because my beef isn't going to last forever and I'm not home tomorrow for dinner. I can see that having the patio off of his bedroom might become a problem, though. He keeps his door closed and I often have no idea if he's home. In the summer, he's going to have to keep it open for the sliding doors to ventilate the house. This was something I hadn't thought of when we saw the place. After all, it was the winter at that point and outside was something best left to the... outside.

Anyway, tonight is going to be steak night, and I'll go pick up some tasty veggie something or other, snow peas, I think. That will be delicious. After that, I'm going to help Nicole some more by taking her up to the Home Depot for things. I don't mind doing things for her, since I'm getting a $250 corset for free. Good deal.

Last night, Willi was incredibly irritating. She woke me up at 3:45am for breakfast. So, I got up, fed her and promptly shut her out of my room. Normally she'd sit outside and pick at the underside of the door until I let her back in, but maybe there isn't enough room between the floor and door for her to get her paw under and twisted around. Whatever the reason, I was able to sleep peacefully.

Silly me, I forgot to mention, yesterday, that I got an email from my sister, Gina ! I was worried they'd moved and not given me a change of address, or anything, what with the phone number being disconnected. It turns out, they just got new numbers, including one for Gina herself. Both sisters have email addresses and so now it will be a good deal more difficult to lose track of them. I am much relieved.

It's a weirdly muggy day today, with a lack of sun, coolish breeze, and general warm-going-to-rain air. Less than charming, but better than cold. It is supposed to rain, which is good, and it's basically going to remain at nice temperatures for most of this week. I hope they hold out through the weekend, too, since I'm going up to the cottage to visit new-momatron, Kristina. I'm pretty excited.

The OPSEU folk went back to work today, finally, after most of eight weeks of striking. They voted 78% to accept the deal, which is very good, and mostly they're satisfied. The nasty thing is that they all know they were used. There is no good reason that the government couldn't have settled this from the start. Bloody politics. Anyway, I'm very happy that Mom's going back to work today. I sent out an email that said, "Whether you were walking the lines, writing the lines, raising hell, raising money, or honking your horn, you're all great !" Or something to that effect. It was my welcome back to some of Mom's co-workers (and her too). I got happy responses of thanks in reply. I'm glad it's over.

Now it looks like the good people at the Metro Zoo are going to go on strike. We were discussing that (well, me and some of my old buddies in Vert. Palaeo.) on break today in the caffeteria. Not happy times for them, I guess. Good luck to them.

Speaking of zoos, I'm going to barbeque up some steak for myself tonight. Heh, I'm such a sick girl. *laugh* I have to buy some snow peas and garlic powder on my way home, for seasoning and side dishes. Yum ! Hopefully Nick won't be sleeping, because I'm not going to put off my steak craving. There's definitely a down-side to having the patio off his room.

I am such a moron. I just discovered that the curtain rods were packed in with the window fixin's. Knob. I am SUCH a knob. I guess I have a project for tomorrow. Yeesh.

Today, the first scent that I took notice of (other than Rick's cigarette) was that of Fresh Cut Grass. Oh, deliciousness ! What a wonderful, green, lovely smell that is. It's full of potential and beautiful things. I think it set the tone for the rest of the day, for I had a really excellent one.

Heretic was full of fun people, including Marcus, the magical fellow who fronts the band, Vampire Beach Babes, which somehow combines goth music with surf tunes. Amazing ! He's keen and full of pep ! He said he was meditating along the street. Heehee. Also, many fun tourists who bought things, as opposed to the poopy ones that don't.

Last night, Rick and I went for a less than excellent dinner at the Sushi Bistro, which is disappointing, because previously, it was my tied-for-second favourite sushi place. The rice was too sticky and heavy. Neither of us were able to finish our dinners, and if you know us, you know we can both hoover it up ! Then we walked to the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in order to hear Hotel, the band with which Nick is friends. I had a good time being hit on by Miles, the rhythm guitarist, and I had an even better time pointing out my boyfriend who was looking suitably nonplussed. I'm so mean. Hotel rocked, which is a damn good thing, because the band before them absolutely stank. Stank as in making my eardrums scream for the agony to end. At one point I asked Rick, only half jokingly, "Are my ears bleeding?" Anyway, Hotel was very good. Good, good, good. And fun. And I did bunches of dancing, which is more than most people were doing (okay, a few were dancing). Also, I met Matt 9. That's a bit of a long story, which I'm still not sure I understand, so I'll just let it go. He liked my bondage pants, and he knew too much about me for someone he'd just met.

I had a really good time at Rick's after the show, and I must thank Nick tremendously for coming home to feed Willi and then go BACK to WORK for the night. Rick and I both appreciate it. I arrived home after work tonight, though, and found piles of kibble in Willi's bowl, though. I think Nick was a little overzealous. By about three handfuls.

When I arrived home tonight, after walking from work to Dufferin (about 40 minutes of long-legged sauntering), I fully intended to put up my wonderful window fixtures. My plan was foiled, however; by a lack of curtain pole from which to hang the grilles. I hope they're in the back of Scarlette, who is presently parked in the old neighbourhood, rather than having been forgotten in Peterborough. It's very frustrating having my car quite some distance from my house. I finally got the landlord's info for the street parking, only now, because I was a good girl and paid some money to my phonebill, I don't have a letter addressed to me at this address. Tomorrow I'll request a new bill so that I can get the permit on Thursday morning. Nothing is ever easy.

Anyway, ROM tomorrow, and I dare not be late, so I'm off to bed.