Rebecca’s Blog

I originally posted this over on my page at Dog’s site, but rather than re-write it, I’m going to just copy and paste it here. It’s really long, I’m sorry!

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SATURDAY MAY 3

Dad drove me to the airport in Halifax (about 2 hours from our house). My flight was supposed to leave at 8:30 local time. Dad dropped me off at around 7:15 and headed home. I went to the gate to wait. We didn’t actually get off the ground until 9, which sucked. Uneventful flight to Toronto was made better by one of the guys I was sitting with who was just as into anime and conventions as I am, and the other guy who was a rubik’s cube whiz. Anyways. Got in late and then spent 15 minutes waiting for luggage to actually be unloaded and brought into the airport. FINALLY met up with my sister (Sharlene) and niece (Abigayle) and Shar’s boyfriend (Jeffrey) and headed home.

20 minutes from the airport is a community called Oakville. It’s on the way to where Shar, Abz and Jeff live. We stopped at a bar/grill there at 11 p.m. local time for wings. Spent a frickin’ fortune. And it should be noted that they didn’t even bat an eye at the idea of my FOURTEEN YEAR OLD NIECE being in a bar at 11 p.m. but it’s probably because she was with her mother, aunt and mother’s boyfriend and we’re all in our 30s, LOL. We left there around 12:30 and headed home to Paris. We arrived an hour later and literally went to bed ten minutes later, LOL.

SUNDAY MAY 4

Got up around 10ish and talked to Sharlene for about 45 minutes about different things. Got Abby up again (Shar had already woken her up at 10) and let her freak out because we had to leave at 11:15. Left on time (amazingly enough) and drove to the Wayne Gretzky Center in Brantford for Abby’s hockey tryouts. Abby plays hockey and has for years. On Sunday she was trying out for the Bantam AA team (highest one around) and didn’t make it, so in August she’s going to try out for one of the lower teams (Bantam B, I think). While there I got to see Abby’s dad (Steve) and half-sister (Marley, who’s 2.5 years old) so that was nice.

Later we just kind of hung out until around 5:15, when Abby and I went across the street to the soccer field for her practice (she plays soccer when she’s not playing hockey). I sat and froze my butt off watching her and her teammates practice, then we came home and had tacos for supper. Not much other than television-watching took place in the evening.

MONDAY MAY 5

Jeff went to work (he’s a firefighter and works seven 24-hour-long shifts a month) and Abby went to school. Shar and I went into Paris for lunch and some shopping. I picked up a book for Alex but otherwise didn’t spend a whole lot because most of the stores on Main St. are closed on Mondays for some reason. Boo. What’s up with that? Then we came home and Shar went to her massage appointment (2:30). I hopped on the computer briefly and then read/napped until Shar got home from her appointment around 4:30. Abby got home from school around 3:30, so that provided a little break from reading/napping, but not much. Abby had another soccer practice at 5:30.

When soccer practice was over, we had pasta for supper and hung out watching TV and goofing off for the evening.

TUESDAY MAY 6

Shar picked Jeff up at work in the early morning and Abby went to school. Jeff cooked us a huge-ass breakfast and then passed out on the couch. Shar and I headed to Lime Ridge Mall in Hamilton for a day of shopping. NEW FAVORITE MALL EVER. This thing is huge! We didn’t see every store. It was amazing.

Shar got me a new dress to wear to the wedding I’m going to on Saturday as a belated birthday present. With money my mom gave me, I bought shoes to go with the dress and a new pair of sneakers. I also bought a pair of tan capris and a really cool Hawaiian shirt (not a typical one, I promise, ha ha!) at Old Navy and the DVD box set of The Best Of Seasons 1-3 (plus the Wedding Special) of Dog at the DVD store.

Let’s see…I didn’t buy anything else besides that I don’t think. Shar bought a bunch of things too. We spent about 4-5 hours at the mall and were home around 4:30-5 p.m.

Jeff made an excellent supper of bbq chicken, mashed potatoes and corn, which we ate. Then the four of us drove into Markham (a suburb of Toronto, so…like 1.5 hours away from home) for Jeff’s baseball game, which started at 8. Once there, we all had to go to the bathroom and didn’t want to lose our parking spot so we walked from the ballfield to where Shar’s parents live (long story short…Shar’s my half-sister and the parents I’m talking about are her adoptive parents) so we could use their bathroom. They ended up driving us back to the ballfield and staying for a little while, which was great.

Result of the ball game: Jeff’s team lost. 15-2. But it was the first game of the season so they have lots of time to improve!

We then drove home. Once there, Abby went to bed and the rest of us ate nachos and watched American Idol which Jeff had PRV’d for us. PVR is an amazing thing and I wish we’d get it here. Seriously. I love the idea of being able to pause TV shows and pick them up again right where you left off and fast forward through commercials!

WEDNESDAY MAY 7

Got up at 9 because Shar and I wanted to be in Paris for 10. That didn’t happen…it was closer to 11 when we got on the road. The reason we were going into town again was I wanted to get a new tattoo and we had seen a tattoo place right on Main Street the previous time there. I had decided that I wanted to get either a palm tree on my inner ankle or a lei around the tyet on my arm, in honor of Dog and the Posse (and the spirit of Hawaii).

Spoke to the tattoo artist (Jacqueline) and while I didn’t get the tattoo (had I been able to talk to her on Monday, I very well could have) because she is very professional and wouldn’t just rush it, I have her card and will email her with ideas before my next trip to Ontario so I can get the tattoo on my next trip. So that’s cool. I’ll definitely be doing that when the time comes. She knows what I want roughly (I’m leaning towards the lei because the tyet is too small) and she’s very awesome, so I’m looking forward to getting some ink from her in the next couple of years.

After that we went home and watched some Gene Simmons Family Jewels until it was time to go again. Abby was in a play at school and we had tickets to the last dress rehearsal before the big opening night. LOL. It was a fairy tale play and Abby played a pixie. So cute. That was over at 2:30 and then we left at 3:10 to go to the airport.

I was freaked out because of an accident on the 401 but we left with more than enough time to get me at the gate and ready to go before it was time to board the plane. Flight was supposed to leave at 6 p.m. local time but was a little late. I arrived home to Nova Scotia around 9:30 p.m. local time and met up with my parents, who picked me up. We stopped for some food and I was home at midnight local time…to find my internet connection not working.

There’s something wrong with the hardware on this computer that makes it very difficult to get online if the computer has been turned off. Go figure. Alex is working on narrowing down the actual issue and solution, but at least he can get it working temporarily.