Days 131 to 138

Sunday brought an interesting time. Although the dead of winter was upon us, I got invited to go kayaking.

What?

Kayaking?

On the 10th of January?

Are you serious?

Of course I said yes. Because it was indoors. It was weird being in a pool and not wearing scuba gear but there you are. It was a great time just to kick back and enjoy. I did my first underwater exit, surprisingly I’d never had this experience. We had a couple of experts in our group which did help things.

Afterwards we headed out to Swiss Chalet for dinner. As it was nearing 8 pm I was concerned that I’d miss the last bus out of town; as it turned out, I needn’t have worried as someone offered me a ride home! I only had to get the gentleman a cup of coffee. And as we were nearing the end of the meal, everyone was getting their bill and suddenly I turned around and was gobsmacked – the nutty group of friends had arranged for a slice of birthday cake. CLEVER! I still can’t understand how they got it done; I like to think that I have a handle on things.

Day 132 was supposed to be the day that I was heading down to the CBC for the Kids in the Hall sneak peek. Unfortunately something else intervened – Mom needed me to help to drive Dad and her up to North Bay as he had been injured on holiday. We had a nice drive up (ok except for Dad’s pain of course) and then I met up with my sister for some quality grocery time.

Day 133 and we were up early to take Dad to an appointment at the doctor’s to get his leg checked out. I took the time to drop by the travel agent to try to get my flight arranged. It’s not done yet, but I’m a big believer of the phrase “good things come to those who wait” and thus I will continue to go on that path!

That evening I borrowed the family sedan (or whatever the Volkswagen equivalent is) and headed over to Don Cherry’s (a restaurant, not the hockey commentator) for the North Bay premiere of Kids in the Hall: Death comes to town. I was very excited as Kate and Krista – the extra casting directors from the summer – had blocked off a section of the restaurant so that we could sit and enjoy! I was thrilled to walk in and immediately see Kate, followed by Geoff and Tracy who had “served” on the jury with me.

Just before the show started we were able to sit and chat with Krista who had came up from Toronto to be with us (being the cast and crew from North Bay and area) which I thought was really nice. As you can see, we're all big hams...

... especially when I pull out my Stuart impression from MadTV.

We also touched base and there’s a certain show that she does for casting in Toronto that she said she could get me some work on which would be really cool for the experience !

The show itself was really great. It was fun to watch, and although it is a bit edgy, I’m sure it will do quite well! In fact according to a tv writer in Toronto it got over a million viewers country wide! AWESOME!

On Day 134 I got up early, grabbed a cab and headed down to Barrie on the bus. It was quite nice on the bus – brand spanking new, and as a result, I was able to stretch out like I had never stretched out before. I kicked back, had breakfast and watched Deal or No Deal UK. It’s getting exciting – some of the players that I saw in person are starting to show up on the programme – just under two weeks until I get to see those episodes!

I took it easy in Barrie and helped out my friend get some dive related stuff done and as a thank you he drove me home! What a stand up guy (and if you know him, don’t tell him I said that!). As a reply to that, I bought him ice cream. We had a long discussion about everything under the sun, which was always nice.

Day 135 and I woke up at a decent time. I had gotten a reply the day before re my flight and it wasn’t particularly the route I wanted so I replied and pretty much set things out point by point. I was quite pleased to have done that, it felt like a weight off of my shoulders. I’m getting a bit antsy to get going, considering I have an event that I’ve been invited to attend in Dunedin on 8th February.

It was also time for a walk. The nice thing about not having a car is that I pretty much have to walk everywhere in town. I took a nice stroll with Hans down to the bank and the library to run some errands, as well as dropping my Wer Wird Millionar episodes off to get converted so that I can watch them. Later on it was off to Costco for what seems to be a weekly visit (hey, it’s an excuse to get out of the house).

Day 136 brought house cleaning. I was having a number of friends over the next day so it was time to get everything straightened up again. It was also a day of massive DVD copying – I had a lot of stuff in “backlog” (dating back to just before I left for Europe) so I wanted to reorganize. Unsurprisingly, an hour show takes about an hour and ten minutes to convert due to the fact that you’ve got to let everything read, finalize, etc.

Day 137 and I was up early to make my dish for the Pot Luck/Chance aux Casseroles. I had decided on Turkey Pad Thai which actually turned out quite well.

Around 11 am my friends started arriving. It was a great afternoon of fun – we ended up eating most of the food that arrived (although thankfully there were some leftovers of which I was the benefactor!), as well as getting in a few games –Buzz on the PS2 (which works quite well with six players), $25,000 Pyramid, where 2 of 3 Winner's Circle rounds were won (this is quite good, all things considered),

(one group after their second $10,000 win)

The Newlywed Game (unsurprisingly the only actual couple won, but not until the last question where my stand-in spouse and I missed the last question)

(a not-quite lovers' spat!)

and also a round of “Things” which is a party game that you have to see to understand.

(frankly I was surprised that we could fit eight people on the couch as well!)

And thus ends the birthday fortnight! I headed up to Barrie to do some pool work in the evening. As you can see, self-photos are easy on land but not really that easy in the water. Clean my teeth, chloreen!

When someone takes them for you, it's a bit easier.

By the time we left the rec centre (around 10 pm) I was pretty bushed. I went out for a bit of a social wrap up and once my head hit the couch back in my celebrity suite (it’s a real long story) I was out for the night.

Yesterday, Day 138, I mentioned to my friends that there were leftovers that I was going to eat, and the next thing you knew I had a ride home! It was great to have more friends over – that was three groups that I had entertained within 10 days, and I think that was a new record! Once they left mid afternoon I took a nice long nap. Because I could!

I am so close to getting my flight confirmed … I can smell it! Hopefully good news to report next time!

Cheers,
Vick