Thursday, September 14, 2006

Back Again

OK, so it's been a while since I've posted, and, well, there's really no excuse for it except my own laziness (and perhaps an almost, yes, almost, unhealthy affinity to World of Warcraft).

So here it is. My past month and a half.

The August long weekend was busy. Friday was a long night out. We went to the only Olive Garden within range of a single tank of gas. The food was good, and there was a little Chinese boy running around in squeaky shoes. And by squeaky shoes, I mean the ones that are intentionally made like a squeak toy. It was really cute when he decided to make a beeline right for Fancy, with his own sound effects providing the ominous warning. I think Fancy would be very happy if I could find her a pair of squeak shoes for her birthday. We even considered getting some for the cats.
Saturday we went to a Japanese festival at a park down in a somewhat seedy part of town. It was really more the walk from the train to the park than the park itself that gave one pause. The festival was interesting. We watched a martial arts display and listened to some good drumming. They had some fairly cheap and very tasty corn on the cob, a display of bonsai trees and a small pictorial museum. I do believe I came home with some fairly distinct tan lines that day.
Sunday it was the Pride Parade, which was full of mostly naked people doing all sorts of things that would make most Edmontonians gasp and call for the police. While it was a good time, it was realllly long. I was relived to finally see the cops coming down the street at the end of the line, knowing they weren't just dressed up for the parade. All the walking and standing over the last two days were getting to me.
Monday we decided to make a run up to Whistler and check out what all the hype is about. The Sea to Sky highway was interesting. It was taken down to one lane in a few places due to all the construction going on to support the Olympics, but it did manage to continue to supply some magnificent views. Whistler itself was a wondrous cacophony of massive hotels and Condo buildings. Our initial investigations into eating establishments provided nothing but tourist type restaurants where nothing cost less than $25 a plate. Luckily, a bit outside the main thoroughfare we found some simpler places and filled up on nachos and tacos. I did manage to get a glimpse of a couple of people rolling down a stream strapped inside a large, inflatable ball. Looked like something I'd like to try someday.

Jette showed up in mid September. We're very happy about this as we had not really made any fast friends here yet. From Fancy's comments, she surrounded at work by aging pirates and creepy maintenance men. Not a real promising environment to make friends to hang out with in. And my workplace, full of family men with heavy accents isn't much better. Jette will provide much needed distraction, though I fear we may only get snippets of her time. This is the first time she's been within easy reach of her family in a long time and I don't think they are going to pass up any opportunity involve her in everything they do.

August also saw the 35th wedding anniversary of my parents. I really don't know what to say about this. My parents are like most peoples parents I think. They have very strong personalites and I love them both very much. Though, in my family, this is shown more in the jibes and jokes then in any polite deference. To my mother, I'm the asshole who never listens. To me, she's the senile old woman I pop wheelies for while pushing her around in her wheel chair. It's definitely more fun than "be a dear"s and "yes mum"s.

My sister passed through on her way to the island on her holiday. Managed to show off the apartment and take 'em out to Metrotown mall before they continued on their trek.

The September long weekend was very relaxing. Did next to nothing for most of it. Highlights included the first games night since Heidi and Jason visited. We taught jettes sister a couple of our regular games and generally had a good time. The weekend ended with a great walking tour of Vancouver's west end by one of Fancy's friends who used to live in the area. Apparently you can get movie tours, and, MUCH more importantly, X-Files tours around the Vancouver area. This I am very interested in.

The last few days I've been scrimping by, counting every penny spent. Apparently we've got *just* enough money to live by if we limit all the outrageous crazy spending we've been doing to entertain ourselves. This outrageous crazy spending would include buying new clothes and going to BP's for supper. Being broke sucks. Especially when you're broke because you're paying off mounds of debts you'll likely have until you die.

So that's pretty much it. Se ya in another month. :p