WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3
Up again at midday. I could really get used to being lazy! Today was snowing quite heavily, so I designated it as my lazy day! It was all go go go in Canada and things will again pick up when I go to Argentina, so it is really nice to have this downtime. Dixie enjoys baking (she was a cake decorator too! And if I remember something else that she does, I’ll add it in. She really is a nice and lovely lady after all!) and she found a recipe for bread that didn’t take all day to make - even though the both of us did have all day to do nothing! I watched her make it while chatting and asking the getting to know you questions. We bummed around quite a bit, answering emails and trying to catch up with mates back home, etc. Dixie and I were talking about making Christmas cookies tomorrow, but as we were looking at all the recipes, it got overwhelming. There are so many varieties you can make, it’s just a question of what you like and what you have in the cupboard. We’ll see how that turns out. I finalised the plans with Chris in Dodgeville this weekend: I’m getting picked up Saturday morning and staying til Tuesday night. YIPPEE!
After dinner and all that jazz, I stayed up with Mike playing Wii - mainly the sports one, with bowling and golf. I hadn’t really had the opportunity to get to know Mike properly, as he went to visit Michael in Sendai just as I was leaving and I had only met him once before at my farewell party, so it was a great opportunity to get to know Mike. He really is a great guy.
See, I told you it was my lazy day!
Thursday, December 11
Last Tuesday.
DECEMBER 2
Wake up at midday for the first time in a long time. But after yesterday’s full on day, I well and truly deserved that sleep in. I didn’t realise that Michael and Mike had a housemate until I saw her going out the door as I was having breakfast. Her name is Dixie and she is a very lovely and chatty lady. I think she’s quite chatty because she is not used to having company and when she saw me it was like “Wow, someone to talk to”! She runs her own business and is an all rounder. In all senses of the word. She is a computer whiz - she has her own business in writing, designing and maintaining web pages as well as side forays in her art as a photographer as well as writer of fiction - mainly werewolf stories, illustrator of books, editor…you name it, she does it. As a result she spends most of her time in her area downstairs during the day, working til sometimes 2 or 3am while Michael and Mike are at work.
It was snowing and Dixie invited me out to walk around the block (The blocks are huge here too). I didn’t realise how unprepared I was for that walk. Yes, I had my gloves, but wasn’t quite as rugged up. The weather is deceptive. The sun could be out but it will still be freezing - sometimes below 0. The boys get home around 6pm, so we all had dinner followed by some grocery shopping. First stop was a place called World Market (or Costco as they are more commonly referred to). It is a grocery/souveneir/antiques shop with all different foods and artesian pieces from around the world: wines, tables, bags, chocolates - absolutely everything. Michael and I went nuts when we saw the newly stocked Japanese section - everything you could get at the 99 yen shop you can get here (not at the same price, but still nice enough to walk along memory lane!) Michael got some Pocky and I got those boxes of chocolate coated almonds - the one from Meiji that you could get from either 99 yen shop or 7/11 - as a last resort! I remember Dawn telling me how much she missed those and how she hadn’t had any since leaving Sendai. At least I have part of her Christmas gifts for her! Michael also bought me some Vegemite. YUMMY
Next stop was a grocery store that was meant to be closing at 9pm - and we got there at 8:50. We were able to stay for as long as we liked, so it was no problem. As Michael was looking for parking, I had a chuckle because he parks in exactly the same way that Dawn does (and I guess like most ppl too, but they both have the same luck when it comes to car spaces). They start at the front working their way towards the back, so they don’t have to walk as much. They both always manage to find that perfect space closest to the door so they don’t have to walk that much: out the car door, walk straight into the shop and you’re indoors in less than 10 seconds. I was laughing to myself before telling Michael. He then said, “Dawn and I have a lot in common, that’s why we get along so well. We were both in the navy and we both love men”. Michael, Mike and I were PISSING ourselves laughing. And I’m sure Dixie would have too if she knew Dawn! After a successful night of shopping, we ate ice cream (in 0 degrees! YAY!), watched some TV before going to bed.
Wake up at midday for the first time in a long time. But after yesterday’s full on day, I well and truly deserved that sleep in. I didn’t realise that Michael and Mike had a housemate until I saw her going out the door as I was having breakfast. Her name is Dixie and she is a very lovely and chatty lady. I think she’s quite chatty because she is not used to having company and when she saw me it was like “Wow, someone to talk to”! She runs her own business and is an all rounder. In all senses of the word. She is a computer whiz - she has her own business in writing, designing and maintaining web pages as well as side forays in her art as a photographer as well as writer of fiction - mainly werewolf stories, illustrator of books, editor…you name it, she does it. As a result she spends most of her time in her area downstairs during the day, working til sometimes 2 or 3am while Michael and Mike are at work.
It was snowing and Dixie invited me out to walk around the block (The blocks are huge here too). I didn’t realise how unprepared I was for that walk. Yes, I had my gloves, but wasn’t quite as rugged up. The weather is deceptive. The sun could be out but it will still be freezing - sometimes below 0. The boys get home around 6pm, so we all had dinner followed by some grocery shopping. First stop was a place called World Market (or Costco as they are more commonly referred to). It is a grocery/souveneir/antiques shop with all different foods and artesian pieces from around the world: wines, tables, bags, chocolates - absolutely everything. Michael and I went nuts when we saw the newly stocked Japanese section - everything you could get at the 99 yen shop you can get here (not at the same price, but still nice enough to walk along memory lane!) Michael got some Pocky and I got those boxes of chocolate coated almonds - the one from Meiji that you could get from either 99 yen shop or 7/11 - as a last resort! I remember Dawn telling me how much she missed those and how she hadn’t had any since leaving Sendai. At least I have part of her Christmas gifts for her! Michael also bought me some Vegemite. YUMMY
Next stop was a grocery store that was meant to be closing at 9pm - and we got there at 8:50. We were able to stay for as long as we liked, so it was no problem. As Michael was looking for parking, I had a chuckle because he parks in exactly the same way that Dawn does (and I guess like most ppl too, but they both have the same luck when it comes to car spaces). They start at the front working their way towards the back, so they don’t have to walk as much. They both always manage to find that perfect space closest to the door so they don’t have to walk that much: out the car door, walk straight into the shop and you’re indoors in less than 10 seconds. I was laughing to myself before telling Michael. He then said, “Dawn and I have a lot in common, that’s why we get along so well. We were both in the navy and we both love men”. Michael, Mike and I were PISSING ourselves laughing. And I’m sure Dixie would have too if she knew Dawn! After a successful night of shopping, we ate ice cream (in 0 degrees! YAY!), watched some TV before going to bed.
Tuesday, December 9
Still last Monday's blog...see how busy I am??
OK, When I left, I made it to Chicago with enough time for my connecting flight
5pm: Arrive at O'Hare, which is meant to be the busiest airport, coming second to Heathrow - and the only reason Heathrow is first is because of its fancy name (at least that's what Chris says!) I check the details of my flight to Madison. It has been delayed by 2 hours and 15 minutes. DAMN! I was cut. NOT HAPPY JAN!
Despite my pissiness I did have some saving graces with the flight to Chicago:
1. There was a 3 seater on the plane. I had the window, another guy had the aisle. Nobody claimed the middle, so the other guy and I had more luggage room. I flied United Airlines and they charge you for any checked baggage on the aircraft and as a result, everybody tries to sneak stuff into carry on. There was absolutely no room in the overhead compartments for my stuff - especially as I was the 3rd last person to board the flight. Thankfully the seat in front of me and next to me worked just as well.
2. I had the best landing EVER! It was smooth and clean. You wouldn't have thought there was a snow storm. Perhaps that snow helped. It was the PERFECT LANDING!
________________________________________________________
So I'm waiting....waiting....the guy on the flight with me to Chicago also had a connecting flight to Louisville at the same time as me. His was also delayed 2 hours and 15 minutes. His gate was near mine and I was trying to look for him - as we had got to chatting on the plane and was a nice man, and a familiar face in Chicago was all that I wanted. That airport was PACKED! There was no room at any of the departure gates to sit, as people were waiting for their flights, as all the schedules had been backed up. I ended up finding a place near the staff section with a connector for the laptop. People were sitting in the aisles, sleeping, playing on the laptop and trying to ignore babies crying. It wasn't working for me today...remember, I had been up since 5:30 and was still pissed about that. Bought water from a cow who tried to also charge me $4 for a croissant. EXTORTION! Yes, it is the airport after all, but I wasn't paying that much for food. Did sudokus, writing, wasting time productively...the usual! Now that I have an hour to go before the flight leaves, I'll just go and check the status.....
________________________________________________________
NEW GATE, NEW TIME. 8:24 is the time of departure. There's a flight scheduled to leave for Charlotte at 9:15pm that manages to leave before mine. We ended up boarding at 8:45pm. The plane is being doused with snow and ice protectors and as a result, we leave at 9:45pm. Arrive at Madison at 10:15pm. Thankfully Michael and Mike were waiting for me and kept tabs on my departure via the United website. They only had to wait 15 minutes, which was a relief, as I arrived 3 and a half hours late. But boy was I pissed and tired....up for 20 hours. Don't know how O does that all the time. I swear he's nuts.
I was happy to see the Mikes - it has been around 2 years since seeing them last. I was tired, but I just wanted to stay up and catch up with them - which is exactly what I did. We all didn't end up going to bed til 1am
Finally, Monday's blog is done. Let's see if I can catch up with the rest of the week!
5pm: Arrive at O'Hare, which is meant to be the busiest airport, coming second to Heathrow - and the only reason Heathrow is first is because of its fancy name (at least that's what Chris says!) I check the details of my flight to Madison. It has been delayed by 2 hours and 15 minutes. DAMN! I was cut. NOT HAPPY JAN!
Despite my pissiness I did have some saving graces with the flight to Chicago:
1. There was a 3 seater on the plane. I had the window, another guy had the aisle. Nobody claimed the middle, so the other guy and I had more luggage room. I flied United Airlines and they charge you for any checked baggage on the aircraft and as a result, everybody tries to sneak stuff into carry on. There was absolutely no room in the overhead compartments for my stuff - especially as I was the 3rd last person to board the flight. Thankfully the seat in front of me and next to me worked just as well.
2. I had the best landing EVER! It was smooth and clean. You wouldn't have thought there was a snow storm. Perhaps that snow helped. It was the PERFECT LANDING!
________________________________________________________
So I'm waiting....waiting....the guy on the flight with me to Chicago also had a connecting flight to Louisville at the same time as me. His was also delayed 2 hours and 15 minutes. His gate was near mine and I was trying to look for him - as we had got to chatting on the plane and was a nice man, and a familiar face in Chicago was all that I wanted. That airport was PACKED! There was no room at any of the departure gates to sit, as people were waiting for their flights, as all the schedules had been backed up. I ended up finding a place near the staff section with a connector for the laptop. People were sitting in the aisles, sleeping, playing on the laptop and trying to ignore babies crying. It wasn't working for me today...remember, I had been up since 5:30 and was still pissed about that. Bought water from a cow who tried to also charge me $4 for a croissant. EXTORTION! Yes, it is the airport after all, but I wasn't paying that much for food. Did sudokus, writing, wasting time productively...the usual! Now that I have an hour to go before the flight leaves, I'll just go and check the status.....
________________________________________________________
NEW GATE, NEW TIME. 8:24 is the time of departure. There's a flight scheduled to leave for Charlotte at 9:15pm that manages to leave before mine. We ended up boarding at 8:45pm. The plane is being doused with snow and ice protectors and as a result, we leave at 9:45pm. Arrive at Madison at 10:15pm. Thankfully Michael and Mike were waiting for me and kept tabs on my departure via the United website. They only had to wait 15 minutes, which was a relief, as I arrived 3 and a half hours late. But boy was I pissed and tired....up for 20 hours. Don't know how O does that all the time. I swear he's nuts.
I was happy to see the Mikes - it has been around 2 years since seeing them last. I was tired, but I just wanted to stay up and catch up with them - which is exactly what I did. We all didn't end up going to bed til 1am
Finally, Monday's blog is done. Let's see if I can catch up with the rest of the week!
Sunday, December 7
Half of Monday's blog...will finish it later!
MONDAY DECEMBER 1
5:30am. After what seemed like no sleep, I had to be up at this time. I may have only got 4 hours. All because they didn't want me to go to the airport on my own, I had to wake up this early. Still not happy Jan! Fucking bullshit, I say! Let's continue the rant [Here's a note from the present: I'm not feeling like this at all now, but I've written down in my notes the emotional state I was in, so if there are a lot of rants, just bear in mind that's what I was feeling at the time and are not a precise indication of my true feelings in the present moment. Thank-you for your attention :)] I didn't book an afternoon flight to be woken up before the sun even came up. They knew I was cut about it. It's such a shame there are no shuttle buses from Oshawa to the airport - that sucks royal donkey balls. Had to leave at 6:30 to get to Scarborough, a town just a short distance away from downtown Toronto. From there we headed to Dawn's work as she needed to pick some stuff up. Caught 2 trains to get there. We were early after all, so it wasn't an issue. I was being a complete sook and it's been a very long time since I've acted in this way. But I figure if I'm going to be treated like a kid, then I may as well act like one. I'm 26. I don't respond well to being told what to do unless I ask for it. I don't get this attitude from my own family, so why the fuck should I get it from others? [Again, I do realise in the present moment that this is just an immature sooky rant. I have been treated tremendously well, but I'm unnecessarily tired and just want to go somewhere familiar - like Argentina. I'll get better once I've settled at my destinations!] In the preparations for this trip, I've been told, "You have to be ready by 6, you have to do this, don't do that, etc". Hey, it's my life, my perogative. If I want to wake up late I'll damn well do it. I know that this ordinarily wouldn't piss me off - usually I just analyse the person whom I'm getting that advice from and analyse their own lifestyle and their circumstances - try to see where they are coming from. If I spot hypocrisy, I call it! And I do not listen to advice from people whose choices I do not agree with, therefore, this shouldn't piss me off that much. Now, I'm feeling much better about this :) Rant over!
Caught a subway and a connecting bus to the airport. I was told, "You have to check in at 1pm", even though the airline told me 1:30. "I'm going later" was my adolescent response. Due to a snow storm in Chicago, all flights were delayed to and from O'Hare. My flight to Chicago was due out at 3pm with my connecting flight flying out at 6pm. My delay for the Chicago flight was initially one hour, so it would be departing at 4pm. It got delayed further by another 30 minutes, therefore a 4:30 departure was on the cards. GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR There was no announcement of these changes, despite announcements for other airlines and their change of service. It was only because of sheer boredom that I looked up to the departures schedule. My gate was crowded, so I went to another one and tried to get the wifi set up, as they had the outlets and were advertising free wifi everywhere. It kinda worked, but the connection was unstable. I was going back and forth to my gate and saw that it was still due to depart at 4:30pm. So to be safe, I planned on parking myself at my gate at 4pm. At 3:50 I was getting bored, so I put my laptop away and slowly walked back towards my gate and while doing that, heard the faintest of announcements, "This is the final call for flight number 1109 to Chicago" - MY FLIGHT! I hoofed it all the way down to my gate. Thankfully I didn't have far to run, as I was carrying a full and heavy load with me. I was the 3rd last person to board. The plane left at 4:15pm...so close! The good news was that I was going to have an hour leeway for my connecting flight.
I'll finish this blog when I'm not so tired....there's still a lot to catch up on!
See ya then!
5:30am. After what seemed like no sleep, I had to be up at this time. I may have only got 4 hours. All because they didn't want me to go to the airport on my own, I had to wake up this early. Still not happy Jan! Fucking bullshit, I say! Let's continue the rant [Here's a note from the present: I'm not feeling like this at all now, but I've written down in my notes the emotional state I was in, so if there are a lot of rants, just bear in mind that's what I was feeling at the time and are not a precise indication of my true feelings in the present moment. Thank-you for your attention :)] I didn't book an afternoon flight to be woken up before the sun even came up. They knew I was cut about it. It's such a shame there are no shuttle buses from Oshawa to the airport - that sucks royal donkey balls. Had to leave at 6:30 to get to Scarborough, a town just a short distance away from downtown Toronto. From there we headed to Dawn's work as she needed to pick some stuff up. Caught 2 trains to get there. We were early after all, so it wasn't an issue. I was being a complete sook and it's been a very long time since I've acted in this way. But I figure if I'm going to be treated like a kid, then I may as well act like one. I'm 26. I don't respond well to being told what to do unless I ask for it. I don't get this attitude from my own family, so why the fuck should I get it from others? [Again, I do realise in the present moment that this is just an immature sooky rant. I have been treated tremendously well, but I'm unnecessarily tired and just want to go somewhere familiar - like Argentina. I'll get better once I've settled at my destinations!] In the preparations for this trip, I've been told, "You have to be ready by 6, you have to do this, don't do that, etc". Hey, it's my life, my perogative. If I want to wake up late I'll damn well do it. I know that this ordinarily wouldn't piss me off - usually I just analyse the person whom I'm getting that advice from and analyse their own lifestyle and their circumstances - try to see where they are coming from. If I spot hypocrisy, I call it! And I do not listen to advice from people whose choices I do not agree with, therefore, this shouldn't piss me off that much. Now, I'm feeling much better about this :) Rant over!
Caught a subway and a connecting bus to the airport. I was told, "You have to check in at 1pm", even though the airline told me 1:30. "I'm going later" was my adolescent response. Due to a snow storm in Chicago, all flights were delayed to and from O'Hare. My flight to Chicago was due out at 3pm with my connecting flight flying out at 6pm. My delay for the Chicago flight was initially one hour, so it would be departing at 4pm. It got delayed further by another 30 minutes, therefore a 4:30 departure was on the cards. GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR There was no announcement of these changes, despite announcements for other airlines and their change of service. It was only because of sheer boredom that I looked up to the departures schedule. My gate was crowded, so I went to another one and tried to get the wifi set up, as they had the outlets and were advertising free wifi everywhere. It kinda worked, but the connection was unstable. I was going back and forth to my gate and saw that it was still due to depart at 4:30pm. So to be safe, I planned on parking myself at my gate at 4pm. At 3:50 I was getting bored, so I put my laptop away and slowly walked back towards my gate and while doing that, heard the faintest of announcements, "This is the final call for flight number 1109 to Chicago" - MY FLIGHT! I hoofed it all the way down to my gate. Thankfully I didn't have far to run, as I was carrying a full and heavy load with me. I was the 3rd last person to board. The plane left at 4:15pm...so close! The good news was that I was going to have an hour leeway for my connecting flight.
I'll finish this blog when I'm not so tired....there's still a lot to catch up on!
See ya then!
One week behind.....getting there!
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 30
I was invited to go and see that new Jason Statham movie, but after realising that I'd need to wake up early for it, I passed. I was still tired from Ottawa. So instead I got up later and went to the gym - and I'm so proud of myself because I continued with my interval running at a much higher level than I thought I could do. I had a 1 minute warmup, a 20 minute non-stop run, 2 and a half minute break followed by the last 6 and a half minutes of running. That 20 minute slot was only meant to be 5 minutes, then 7, 10, 15 until it eventually got to 20 minutes of continuous training. Yes, it's official: I ROCK! I wasn't running like hell because I had a stitch, but I didn't want to slow down either. Plus I needed to maintain enough energy throughout the whole workout. Every few minutes I increased the speed by 1 on the treadmill and eventually got to 8.5 (miles I think - if it were in kms, it would be a cakewalk!)
After I took my time with my shower and everything else, I got randomly picked up by Dawn and Judy. I left a note saying I was at the gym and would be at the house by 4:30. At 4pm they checked to see if I was still there to give me a lift back to the house, which was so incredibly sweet of them. As soon as Dawn pulled up into the parking area, I stepped out of the gym. As I didn't know they had come to pick me up, I was aloof when I heard 2 loud toots on the car horm and "Oy, get your ass in here". Me thinking it was an antagonist, I was turning around and ready to give whoever this person was a piece of my mind, but then burst out laughing when I saw it was Dawn and Judy. The timing was perfect!
Got back to the house and couldn't wait an extra 40 minutes before dinner was ready (it was just cudin anyway. For those of you who don't know, it's a very well known dish: What you CUDIN eat today, you'll have it tomorrow"), so I had a slice of my pizza before I get the 'don't spoil your appetite' lecture. Firstly: if I didn't eat anything, I would have passed out; Secondly: I wasn't spoiling it with chocolate or other junk, I was getting an early start to my dinner. (This is part of my rant. Thankfully it's just a short one today!). The 40 minutes came on by and I had my beautifully delicious gourmet pizza for dinner. If I hadn't have made that pizza last night, it would have been processed potato night for me. As I was having my dinner, the DOMS was creeping up on me quite strongly.
I was pissed because I found out I have to be up at 5:30am for a fucking 3pm flight. The reason I got a late flight was so that I wouldn't have to wake up so fucking early. BUT NO! I wasn't consulted with anything - despite me saying I would get a hotel so I didn't need a lift to the airport. I was just told, "We have to leave at 6:30am because there is no other way". There are no direct buses from Oshawa to the airport. So we had to go downtown with David and bumfuck around Toronto for 4 hours, then take 3 trains and a bus to get to the airport. Like I said, it would have been worth it for me to stay the night at a hotel near the airport. Also added to this: seeing as I am going to the US, I have to check in 2 hours before my flight is scheduled to leave. I'm having another hell of a rant. Again I ask: see what it's like to be a girl?
Off to sleep as I have to be up soon. See ya in Madison!
I was invited to go and see that new Jason Statham movie, but after realising that I'd need to wake up early for it, I passed. I was still tired from Ottawa. So instead I got up later and went to the gym - and I'm so proud of myself because I continued with my interval running at a much higher level than I thought I could do. I had a 1 minute warmup, a 20 minute non-stop run, 2 and a half minute break followed by the last 6 and a half minutes of running. That 20 minute slot was only meant to be 5 minutes, then 7, 10, 15 until it eventually got to 20 minutes of continuous training. Yes, it's official: I ROCK! I wasn't running like hell because I had a stitch, but I didn't want to slow down either. Plus I needed to maintain enough energy throughout the whole workout. Every few minutes I increased the speed by 1 on the treadmill and eventually got to 8.5 (miles I think - if it were in kms, it would be a cakewalk!)
After I took my time with my shower and everything else, I got randomly picked up by Dawn and Judy. I left a note saying I was at the gym and would be at the house by 4:30. At 4pm they checked to see if I was still there to give me a lift back to the house, which was so incredibly sweet of them. As soon as Dawn pulled up into the parking area, I stepped out of the gym. As I didn't know they had come to pick me up, I was aloof when I heard 2 loud toots on the car horm and "Oy, get your ass in here". Me thinking it was an antagonist, I was turning around and ready to give whoever this person was a piece of my mind, but then burst out laughing when I saw it was Dawn and Judy. The timing was perfect!
Got back to the house and couldn't wait an extra 40 minutes before dinner was ready (it was just cudin anyway. For those of you who don't know, it's a very well known dish: What you CUDIN eat today, you'll have it tomorrow"), so I had a slice of my pizza before I get the 'don't spoil your appetite' lecture. Firstly: if I didn't eat anything, I would have passed out; Secondly: I wasn't spoiling it with chocolate or other junk, I was getting an early start to my dinner. (This is part of my rant. Thankfully it's just a short one today!). The 40 minutes came on by and I had my beautifully delicious gourmet pizza for dinner. If I hadn't have made that pizza last night, it would have been processed potato night for me. As I was having my dinner, the DOMS was creeping up on me quite strongly.
I was pissed because I found out I have to be up at 5:30am for a fucking 3pm flight. The reason I got a late flight was so that I wouldn't have to wake up so fucking early. BUT NO! I wasn't consulted with anything - despite me saying I would get a hotel so I didn't need a lift to the airport. I was just told, "We have to leave at 6:30am because there is no other way". There are no direct buses from Oshawa to the airport. So we had to go downtown with David and bumfuck around Toronto for 4 hours, then take 3 trains and a bus to get to the airport. Like I said, it would have been worth it for me to stay the night at a hotel near the airport. Also added to this: seeing as I am going to the US, I have to check in 2 hours before my flight is scheduled to leave. I'm having another hell of a rant. Again I ask: see what it's like to be a girl?
Off to sleep as I have to be up soon. See ya in Madison!
Friday, December 5
Pro Freshness
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29:
We woke up at 11am to check out at 12. I am fairly relaxed when it comes to deadlines. I always make it on time - I do not like to be rushed to be at a place unnecessarily early. It was 11:20 and I got told to hurry up. Feeling spiteful, I intentionally slowed down because I knew I’d be ready with time to spare. People here like to be ready 10 hours in advance and I don’t like to be told to hurry when I know that I’ll be ready when I need to be. Call it pig-headed, I don’t care. The point is: don’t rush me J I was told to meet up in the other room when I was ready. Come 11:55, with plenty of time to check out, I was ready and knocked on the door to be responded with “It’s about bloody time”. Fuck that - we had 5 minutes to check out. I was early as far as I was concerned (You’ll notice a pattern in these blogs that they are all rants - and I need to have them - so you can ignore them if you’re not in the mood to read about them!)
With nothing else to see in Ottawa, we made our way back to Oshawa. This time around it was a 4 hour and 20 minute commute. We left Ottawa with very little petrol in the tank, despite warnings from the passengers to go and get some before we leave. We intended on going to the McDonalds exit we took last time, as it was just 7 minutes from the hotel. After a miscommunication with the map reading, we missed the exit and were forced to continue driving along the highway anxiously listening to those beeps in the car to signify: “FILL ME NOW!” We found a petrol station after 20 minutes and filled her up enough to get us back to Oshawa. Got back at 4:30.
10 minutes later the girls and I went shopping for dinner, which went a little like this: “Let’s go out and get some pizza”. Finally…a tiny step out of the processed crap zone and into a fresh food zone - kinda! I assumed we were going to a take away pizza place where they are made to order. I was wrong unfortunately. Thinking we’d go to a pizza shop, instead we went to the frozen aisle of the local grocery store, where everyone chose their own box of pizza. No way was I going to indulge in this, so in protest I chose nothing and ate nothing, saying I was skipping dinner. This didn’t go down too well and they bought me stuff to make a salad, but stubborn old me said, “No, I’m not having any dinner so don’t bother”. My body has been protesting this processed shit, so they ended up having dinner while I went upstairs to check my emails. After my online friends ran away to poofy YouTube land (another rant for another day!), I went downstairs to join the others. I wasn’t hungry, but in anticipation of getting more processed dinner the following day, I decided to prepare my dinner for then. I got my recipe book, found a recipe for basic pizza dough and made my own pizza! In this way, I know what I’m putting in them - all nice ingredients that I like. I made 2 medium sized pizzas with tomato paste, oregano, turkey bacon rashes, marble cheddar cheese, red capsicums, chickpeas and sundried tomatoes. And the good news: everything was fresh and readily available in the fridge for me to use. They tasted sooooo good. I eventually ate one for dinner at 10pm and saved the other one for the following day. I was so happy with that experiment, considering I haven’t made my own gourmet style pizza in months. Went to bed with the whole house smelling of freshly baked pizza goodness…mmmmmm……something else!!
So that was Saturday….off to the next one!
We woke up at 11am to check out at 12. I am fairly relaxed when it comes to deadlines. I always make it on time - I do not like to be rushed to be at a place unnecessarily early. It was 11:20 and I got told to hurry up. Feeling spiteful, I intentionally slowed down because I knew I’d be ready with time to spare. People here like to be ready 10 hours in advance and I don’t like to be told to hurry when I know that I’ll be ready when I need to be. Call it pig-headed, I don’t care. The point is: don’t rush me J I was told to meet up in the other room when I was ready. Come 11:55, with plenty of time to check out, I was ready and knocked on the door to be responded with “It’s about bloody time”. Fuck that - we had 5 minutes to check out. I was early as far as I was concerned (You’ll notice a pattern in these blogs that they are all rants - and I need to have them - so you can ignore them if you’re not in the mood to read about them!)
With nothing else to see in Ottawa, we made our way back to Oshawa. This time around it was a 4 hour and 20 minute commute. We left Ottawa with very little petrol in the tank, despite warnings from the passengers to go and get some before we leave. We intended on going to the McDonalds exit we took last time, as it was just 7 minutes from the hotel. After a miscommunication with the map reading, we missed the exit and were forced to continue driving along the highway anxiously listening to those beeps in the car to signify: “FILL ME NOW!” We found a petrol station after 20 minutes and filled her up enough to get us back to Oshawa. Got back at 4:30.
10 minutes later the girls and I went shopping for dinner, which went a little like this: “Let’s go out and get some pizza”. Finally…a tiny step out of the processed crap zone and into a fresh food zone - kinda! I assumed we were going to a take away pizza place where they are made to order. I was wrong unfortunately. Thinking we’d go to a pizza shop, instead we went to the frozen aisle of the local grocery store, where everyone chose their own box of pizza. No way was I going to indulge in this, so in protest I chose nothing and ate nothing, saying I was skipping dinner. This didn’t go down too well and they bought me stuff to make a salad, but stubborn old me said, “No, I’m not having any dinner so don’t bother”. My body has been protesting this processed shit, so they ended up having dinner while I went upstairs to check my emails. After my online friends ran away to poofy YouTube land (another rant for another day!), I went downstairs to join the others. I wasn’t hungry, but in anticipation of getting more processed dinner the following day, I decided to prepare my dinner for then. I got my recipe book, found a recipe for basic pizza dough and made my own pizza! In this way, I know what I’m putting in them - all nice ingredients that I like. I made 2 medium sized pizzas with tomato paste, oregano, turkey bacon rashes, marble cheddar cheese, red capsicums, chickpeas and sundried tomatoes. And the good news: everything was fresh and readily available in the fridge for me to use. They tasted sooooo good. I eventually ate one for dinner at 10pm and saved the other one for the following day. I was so happy with that experiment, considering I haven’t made my own gourmet style pizza in months. Went to bed with the whole house smelling of freshly baked pizza goodness…mmmmmm……something else!!
So that was Saturday….off to the next one!
CATCHING UP: OTTAWA
It's been a week, so I thought I may as well catch up on this eventful week, all on separate blogs. So here we go...
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28: Wake up at 5am to be ready to leave the house by 6am. I was told it would be an 8 hour drive to get to Ottawa, so I was well prepared with my sudoku book, recipe book (for more ideas on home made meals - more ranting on that to come!) and my goose down doona jacket to keep me warm, so I was ready for the long haul. I had fallen asleep and was surprised to be woken up 4 hours later - after 3 pitt stops - with a “We’re here” greeting. It turns out that it takes just over 4 hours, but the last time they drove to Ottawa it took 8 hours because of extensive road works. I was pissy! Lots of little miscommunications like this have been pissing me off as of late. Part of it is that miscommunication, the other part is my monthly intolerance of bullshit. So all up it was 4 hours and 15 minutes and I slept 3 hours and 45 minutes. Very surprised considering the lack of space to sleep in the car.
We got 2 rooms - 1 for Dawn and I and the other for her folks. Our room was ready first, so we proceeded to dump all of our cargo in my room. Dawn was sick with a bad cold, but being the trooper that she is, she still came to Ottawa with us and considering this fact, we let her sleep in the hotel room for most of the day for her to recover. Her folks and I went out exploring Ottawa. Being the capital of Canada, it’s a very parliamentary city and as such all of the buildings have some sort of political significance. I mainly came to Ottawa to see the changing of the guard (I thought you could see it in Toronto, but apparently it’s better in the nation’s capital). After getting there and asking at the hotel, we discovered they only do those in the Summer time - mainly so the guards don’t freeze their butts off. But they are Canadian - you’d think they would be used to this by now! It gets cold, but the show must go on for those nutty tourists who visit in a cold snowy Winter time!
I went exploring on my own and was very impressed with the old-style architecture of all the building of Parliament. There’s even a building next door that looks like you’re in that cathedral in Russia (St Peter’s? My mind has drawn a blank for the moment. I’ve seen this cathedral dozens of times, particularly here in Canada on the Food Network, where chefs design cakes based on famous global monuments and one of those was this place in Russia, but I cannot remember the name. And now I am rambling…although those of you who know me may not be surprised by that!) Anyway, Ottawa had a touch of Europe that I was not expecting. I’d say part of that was because of its proximity to the neighbouring French quarters - Quebec (or Gatineau, to be more accurate). More on that later. When I was exploring the parliamentary buildings I was very impressed by them all. The main block has 3 buildings. The one in the middle with the main clock tower overlooking the city is meant to represent a balance in the equal representation for all Canadians - because on either side of this tower you have 2 buildings: one that is the ruling party’s headquarters and directly in front of that is the HQ of the opposition. Do you want to take a guess at who has the better digs?? I will put photos up and organise them all properly once I’ve finished updating these blogs.
Amongst the exploring I found the bridge to get across to Quebec. I went there and there is nothing of interest, except for all of the street signs in French. In Ottawa the signs are bi-lingual and prepares you - or at least makes an attempt to prepare you - for the monolingual atomosphere that is Quebec. I had a fine time there - there is an expectation in Quebec that if you are Canadian, you must be able to speak French and they will only speak to you in French. However, if you are not Canadian, they will help you out in English. When I was at the information desk and made an attempt to speak French in my off Aussie accent, they knew I wasn’t a Cannuck and proceeded to help me in English, which was nice. But Ontarians don’t like going to Quebec unless they have to (now bare in mind, this is just a generalisation!)
I made my way back to the block of Parliament and went on a free tour of Parliament House from the inside. Security is as tight as the airport - I had to strip off my belt, shoes and multi layers of jackets just to take the tour. But it was well worth it. I thought I’d be bored, as me and politics don’t really mix well. The inside of Parliament is just as impressive as it is on the outside - crystal chandeliers, a stain glassed roof, beautifully detailed sculptures and portraits. You would think the portraits are of important political figures in Canada’s history, but in fact they are self portraits of the artists and sculptors themselves. How vain! I still liked them!
After the tour it was getting a bit chilly and I had been out for a few hours, so I went back to the hotel room to hang with Dawn and see how she was. The weather was entirely appropriate for bumming - and that’s just what we did. So this was the weather: it was wet, but it really wasn’t raining - just wet from the melted snow. It was cold enough for snow, but it really wasn’t snowing. There were flakes of snow falling, but they were the melting kind, so you really cannot classify them as snow (See Chris’ blog for any clarification on what is and what isn’t snow, because his analysis was spot on! And seeing as I cannot comment on MySpace anymore, I may as well do that here!) In any point, I did like this weather. Canadians don’t - for some reason!
After a while we went out for the Moonlight Madness Sale at Zellers - the post Thanksgiving sale. It’s not as mad here as it is in the States, but it was nice to get sales on. I bought myself some gym pants because I wanted to use the hotel’s gym, but I forgot to bring all of my gear. It just didn’t occur to me until it was too late.
WARNING: RANT COMING UP…..
After the sale we had dinner at Subway. Never again! Since being here nearly a month, I’ve had to have a lot of processed shit and it’s starting to get to me in a bad way. People here say they cook at home and eat healthily, but cracking open a pack of potato bake in a box and using processed potatoes instead of the real thing - which is fresher and readily available - and using salt and butter heavy seasoning on the fake potatoes…I’m sorry, that’s not home made cooking, that’s just fucked. The only way I am going to eat healthily is to make my own meals. I discovered the other reason why there is such a huge obesity problem here: people are DELUDED into thinking they are having healthy meals just because they are making them at home, but they are using packaged meals which often contain more sodium and more artificial flavourings to make sure the food is preserved for a longer period of time. Those preservatives and flavourings do not help in making the processed food any healthier just because you are making them at home. The other night I had Sloppy Joes - something I never had before as a meal. It’s basically a lasagne/Bolognese sauce. I asked “What else comes with it - how do you eat it?”, to which they replied “It’s a main meal. You put it on bread”. I cannot comprehend this. And the worst part: IT CAME FROM A CAN! If my relatives in Argentina go to the USA or North America, I think they would cry. Weeks ago people were surprised at how my macaroni and cheese bake tasted better than the processed shit they are used to having. Apologies for this rant, but I haven’t had one of my beautiful decent salads in a long time, as I have been told that I don’t need them because there will be vegies on the table. But seriously, there is only so much frozen vegetables that my body can take. Well, NO MORE!
RANT OVER….FOR NOW!
Thanks all! Back to the blog: At the hotel, I waited 2 hours after eating that crappy sub before working out at 8:30. I was going to go for a swim in the hotel’s pool, but it looked a bit rank - and so did the gym equipment (Bloody Fernwood spoilt me with clean equipment!), but I did intervals on the cross trainer for 30 minutes - at the most intensive level I’ve ever done! I was getting a headache - possible after affect of the sub and also because Dawn was sick. I didn’t want to risk getting ill, knowing I had to fly in 3 day’s time. Earlier in the day I saw a 24 hour McDonalds outlet (BTW: I am aware that I’ve spent a chunk of time bitching about fast food, but after having a crappy dinner - and after months of not having McDonalds, I caved. Dawn and I wanted to go at 3am for the novelty factor. But we were getting sleepy, so we went at midnight instead. We followed it up by going to the 24 hour Tim Hortons outlet - they make awesome hot chocolates and bagels…..mmmmmm………something! We ate like pigs, jumped on the beds, raged, watched TV and fell asleep at 3am. Just like old times!
So all of this happened on one day. I’ll separate the blogs, just coz lots of things were packed in. Look out for the next one!
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28: Wake up at 5am to be ready to leave the house by 6am. I was told it would be an 8 hour drive to get to Ottawa, so I was well prepared with my sudoku book, recipe book (for more ideas on home made meals - more ranting on that to come!) and my goose down doona jacket to keep me warm, so I was ready for the long haul. I had fallen asleep and was surprised to be woken up 4 hours later - after 3 pitt stops - with a “We’re here” greeting. It turns out that it takes just over 4 hours, but the last time they drove to Ottawa it took 8 hours because of extensive road works. I was pissy! Lots of little miscommunications like this have been pissing me off as of late. Part of it is that miscommunication, the other part is my monthly intolerance of bullshit. So all up it was 4 hours and 15 minutes and I slept 3 hours and 45 minutes. Very surprised considering the lack of space to sleep in the car.
We got 2 rooms - 1 for Dawn and I and the other for her folks. Our room was ready first, so we proceeded to dump all of our cargo in my room. Dawn was sick with a bad cold, but being the trooper that she is, she still came to Ottawa with us and considering this fact, we let her sleep in the hotel room for most of the day for her to recover. Her folks and I went out exploring Ottawa. Being the capital of Canada, it’s a very parliamentary city and as such all of the buildings have some sort of political significance. I mainly came to Ottawa to see the changing of the guard (I thought you could see it in Toronto, but apparently it’s better in the nation’s capital). After getting there and asking at the hotel, we discovered they only do those in the Summer time - mainly so the guards don’t freeze their butts off. But they are Canadian - you’d think they would be used to this by now! It gets cold, but the show must go on for those nutty tourists who visit in a cold snowy Winter time!
I went exploring on my own and was very impressed with the old-style architecture of all the building of Parliament. There’s even a building next door that looks like you’re in that cathedral in Russia (St Peter’s? My mind has drawn a blank for the moment. I’ve seen this cathedral dozens of times, particularly here in Canada on the Food Network, where chefs design cakes based on famous global monuments and one of those was this place in Russia, but I cannot remember the name. And now I am rambling…although those of you who know me may not be surprised by that!) Anyway, Ottawa had a touch of Europe that I was not expecting. I’d say part of that was because of its proximity to the neighbouring French quarters - Quebec (or Gatineau, to be more accurate). More on that later. When I was exploring the parliamentary buildings I was very impressed by them all. The main block has 3 buildings. The one in the middle with the main clock tower overlooking the city is meant to represent a balance in the equal representation for all Canadians - because on either side of this tower you have 2 buildings: one that is the ruling party’s headquarters and directly in front of that is the HQ of the opposition. Do you want to take a guess at who has the better digs?? I will put photos up and organise them all properly once I’ve finished updating these blogs.
Amongst the exploring I found the bridge to get across to Quebec. I went there and there is nothing of interest, except for all of the street signs in French. In Ottawa the signs are bi-lingual and prepares you - or at least makes an attempt to prepare you - for the monolingual atomosphere that is Quebec. I had a fine time there - there is an expectation in Quebec that if you are Canadian, you must be able to speak French and they will only speak to you in French. However, if you are not Canadian, they will help you out in English. When I was at the information desk and made an attempt to speak French in my off Aussie accent, they knew I wasn’t a Cannuck and proceeded to help me in English, which was nice. But Ontarians don’t like going to Quebec unless they have to (now bare in mind, this is just a generalisation!)
I made my way back to the block of Parliament and went on a free tour of Parliament House from the inside. Security is as tight as the airport - I had to strip off my belt, shoes and multi layers of jackets just to take the tour. But it was well worth it. I thought I’d be bored, as me and politics don’t really mix well. The inside of Parliament is just as impressive as it is on the outside - crystal chandeliers, a stain glassed roof, beautifully detailed sculptures and portraits. You would think the portraits are of important political figures in Canada’s history, but in fact they are self portraits of the artists and sculptors themselves. How vain! I still liked them!
After the tour it was getting a bit chilly and I had been out for a few hours, so I went back to the hotel room to hang with Dawn and see how she was. The weather was entirely appropriate for bumming - and that’s just what we did. So this was the weather: it was wet, but it really wasn’t raining - just wet from the melted snow. It was cold enough for snow, but it really wasn’t snowing. There were flakes of snow falling, but they were the melting kind, so you really cannot classify them as snow (See Chris’ blog for any clarification on what is and what isn’t snow, because his analysis was spot on! And seeing as I cannot comment on MySpace anymore, I may as well do that here!) In any point, I did like this weather. Canadians don’t - for some reason!
After a while we went out for the Moonlight Madness Sale at Zellers - the post Thanksgiving sale. It’s not as mad here as it is in the States, but it was nice to get sales on. I bought myself some gym pants because I wanted to use the hotel’s gym, but I forgot to bring all of my gear. It just didn’t occur to me until it was too late.
WARNING: RANT COMING UP…..
After the sale we had dinner at Subway. Never again! Since being here nearly a month, I’ve had to have a lot of processed shit and it’s starting to get to me in a bad way. People here say they cook at home and eat healthily, but cracking open a pack of potato bake in a box and using processed potatoes instead of the real thing - which is fresher and readily available - and using salt and butter heavy seasoning on the fake potatoes…I’m sorry, that’s not home made cooking, that’s just fucked. The only way I am going to eat healthily is to make my own meals. I discovered the other reason why there is such a huge obesity problem here: people are DELUDED into thinking they are having healthy meals just because they are making them at home, but they are using packaged meals which often contain more sodium and more artificial flavourings to make sure the food is preserved for a longer period of time. Those preservatives and flavourings do not help in making the processed food any healthier just because you are making them at home. The other night I had Sloppy Joes - something I never had before as a meal. It’s basically a lasagne/Bolognese sauce. I asked “What else comes with it - how do you eat it?”, to which they replied “It’s a main meal. You put it on bread”. I cannot comprehend this. And the worst part: IT CAME FROM A CAN! If my relatives in Argentina go to the USA or North America, I think they would cry. Weeks ago people were surprised at how my macaroni and cheese bake tasted better than the processed shit they are used to having. Apologies for this rant, but I haven’t had one of my beautiful decent salads in a long time, as I have been told that I don’t need them because there will be vegies on the table. But seriously, there is only so much frozen vegetables that my body can take. Well, NO MORE!
RANT OVER….FOR NOW!
Thanks all! Back to the blog: At the hotel, I waited 2 hours after eating that crappy sub before working out at 8:30. I was going to go for a swim in the hotel’s pool, but it looked a bit rank - and so did the gym equipment (Bloody Fernwood spoilt me with clean equipment!), but I did intervals on the cross trainer for 30 minutes - at the most intensive level I’ve ever done! I was getting a headache - possible after affect of the sub and also because Dawn was sick. I didn’t want to risk getting ill, knowing I had to fly in 3 day’s time. Earlier in the day I saw a 24 hour McDonalds outlet (BTW: I am aware that I’ve spent a chunk of time bitching about fast food, but after having a crappy dinner - and after months of not having McDonalds, I caved. Dawn and I wanted to go at 3am for the novelty factor. But we were getting sleepy, so we went at midnight instead. We followed it up by going to the 24 hour Tim Hortons outlet - they make awesome hot chocolates and bagels…..mmmmmm………something! We ate like pigs, jumped on the beds, raged, watched TV and fell asleep at 3am. Just like old times!
So all of this happened on one day. I’ll separate the blogs, just coz lots of things were packed in. Look out for the next one!
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