At Large in New York

Here I am upstate in Bloomingburg, at Manang Maureen's place. It's just the three of us gals, including Auntie Jane. I showed them the photos from my Flash cards using the TV, so they could see pictures of the kids and the rest of us. We tried to get Auntie Jane to look at pictures of Dad, but I'm not sure if she was really looking, although she acknowledged that she recognised his name.

I'm still debating about returning to the City tomorrow or on Tuesday. I feel I should stay until Tuesday morning, but we shall see... it seems so short a visit...


Auntie Jane

Leave It to the Professionals

'Tis is the night before my company Christmas Party and I'm desperately trying to beat the colds and stave off the flu! I even broke down and phoned this cleaning lady who lives on the 19th floor to help me clean the apartment. Her per hour rate is pretty low, so I think it's worth the money. I also broke down and phoned the hairdresser's across the street to make an appointment to do my hair tomorrow. These are all things I have always done myself, but this year I think I'll leave it up to the professionals and try to save my energy for getting better. Besides, in the state I'm in, I could really muck things up.

Yesterday will go down in the annals as being one of the longest and most trying of days. Which continued a week of working far too much, things going awry, and generally just feeling like I've been thrown into a life-sized salad spinner.

If only Christmas just came a little bit sooner...

The Weekend

Photos and text forthcoming...

Richard Rushworth Remembered

Richard Rushworth passed away this evening around 6 o'clock. He'd been in the hospital for a week and I didn't know. I was on the phone this evening with Allan, half consoling him, half trying to convince him that he should not feel guilty for not being right there by his side at the end, to say goodbye to probably his closest friend.

We knew Richard would not be able to survive his bouts with illness for too much longer. But we're still sad to see him go, especially Allan, understandably. I just went through some of the e-mail conversations Richard and I had, and looked at photos I'd taken of him with the kids on some of our visits. I told Allan we should go to Raf's for fish and chips on Sunday at Crescent Beach, because that was Richard's favourite thing. He really looked forward to when I would drive out there with the bambinos and we would split a massive piece of halibut and chips. I'm glad Richard introduced me to that place and we were able to shoot the ocean breeze together over a mutal love of Raf's tartar sauce. Even if he had tubes up his nose and the kids had ketchup smeared all over their little faces. There is something still very poignant about that, and the image is imprinted indelibly in my mind.

I've been studying the philosophy of life and death since September, and I think the academic approach has made it easier to deal with those two subjects. I've thought about it a great deal while reading the texts and writing three papers. At the very least, I felt I had something constructive to say to Allan to help him feel better about missing out on an opportunity to say goodbye, even though I didn't get this idea directly from readings or discussions. I compared it to the phone call we were on -- I told him the goodbye isn't so important, it's the hello and the conversation you had beforehand...


Melissa and Michael harassing Richard.

I haven't posted for over a week... I have a Philosophy paper due tomorrow and all I want to do right now is to go to sleep for a hundred years.

Science World

Melissa and I hit Science World today!


Melissa at Science World

How do you know when you need more sleep?

When you dump a massive cup of coffee in your lap in class while you're sitting in the front row and spend the next hour trying to dry yourself discreetly while trying not to distract the professor, reeking of denim latté, then sneaking out at the end of class strategically holding a rucksack to hide the embarrassingly large wet spot between your legs and forgetting your digital recorder on the speaker's stand...

That's how you know...

Calgary Debriefing

Monday night. Kristin and I just ate enough fondue for 5 people, just between the two of us. We gorged ourselves. We had to, after an evening like this... for the second time, Kristin and I missed each other at the airport! I thought last time was bad, but this time I waited at the airport for nearly 2 hours! Kristin and I just couldn't find each other...


Calgary cousins

What a day! Met with the cousins for lunch, at 4th Street Rose. Ron, Ritchelle, and Gin all made it and I played raconteur for a couple of hours. It was great to see them again, and after I dropped Tyrone off at his office I went straight to the airport to return the rental car and make sure I had plenty of time to make the flight. I was so knackered...

It's been an interesting long weekend.


Tyrone and Chris in the cable car


valley

Calgary Saga

When I finally made it to the gate via a circuitous route I breathed a sigh of relief. But I wasn't the only late arrival -- in the end, by the time the plane took off at 9pm, it was delayed 45 minutes. Apparently it was waiting for another plane of connecting passengers, then the computer that generated tickets was giving out more boarding passes than seats on the plane. I hit a rather embarrassing snag when my bag wouldn't fit in the overhead bin. That's one major downside of showing up late -- people just watch you while you struggle trying to put baggage into a bin that a short person like me can't reach without putting the people below into danger! And of course where are the flight attendants when you need them?? Nowhere. After several unsuccessful attempts to close the bin, witnessed by the entire back of the plane, I headed down the aisle to search for some options. This kind woman finally stopped me and mentioned that the outside compartments were larger... crikey, I'm glad SOMEONE spoke up.

After all that, I finally arrived in Calgary at 11 o'clock local time. Talk about a people jam -- hordes of reunited families and friends crowded the airport. YVR seems so spacious by comparison.

I talked the Avis agent into upgrading me from a Cavalier to a Malibu and I set off to find Chris's place, through black ice and blowing snow... I thought, 'Great, from torrential rain to ice and snow...' It was so slippery I had to go at a snail's pace. I found Chris's house and we headed downtown, into more snow. Snow. Great to look at but crappy to drive in. The accident in January is still clear in my mind.

Chris and I found Tyrone at a tavern downtown, playing pool with his teammate, Rob. Apparently Tyrone is playing in an expensive pool league ($240/year + nightly fee!). Karaoke was the entertainment of the evening, and I don't believe I have ever seen so many pub patrons so gung-ho about karaoke!

Let the driving begin... Rob took a taxi home and we drove over a vast, flat plain of residential areas on a mission to find a liquor store for Tyrone, some food for me, and cigarettes for Chris. If you asked me to retrace that route, I would have no idea... with Tyrone backseat driving and Chris telling him to shut up, it was amazing I was able to get us to anywhere.

Will we get to Banff tomorrow? Or will the boys sleep in and Gail slip away to Banff by herself? It's nearly 4am, so we'll see if anyone gets up at all before noon.