Descriptive entry attack! (part one (and two))
I have fun guessing who people are based on the fragments of their msn nicks that pop up...although I'm usually very, very wrong...feh.
Reading week! Full of awesome.
Monday: Nothing of note really happened.
Tuesday: Didn't go to sleep the night before, crashed around noon-ish. Saille called at around 5-ish, asking if I wanted to go catch Beeby when he landed. Get there half an hour early or so, since the O-train is faster than the bus. I get sour-cream timbits (♥) and Saille gets hot chocolate from the Tim Hortons' to kill time. Watch as Beeby's flight inches its way into the next hour. Eventually his plane does land, so we stand around chatting with him and his uncle, who had come to pick him up. After securing the baggage, we go to Zak's to have food. Sadly, we did not have the deep-fried mars bar, although I did get some super-salty poutine.
We finish, Beeby's uncle drops me and Saille off at the university, we go up to Saille's and watch Making Fiends and various other animation-type whatnot, I go back to my dorm room to do various other things (like, I don't know, my webct quiz and room cleanage). I think I end up falling asleep at a fairly decent hour (only 3-ish).
Wednesday:
Me and Beeby go music shopping on Wednesday. He's having some form of audition in Montreal and needs an accompanist (guess who?). Actually managed to catch the right bus (at the right time, no less), although I somehow managed to convince myself it was the wrong one when the driver went off duty (for the Ottawarians, I got on 4 Hurdman, took it up to the Hurdman station, then got on the 4 Downtown/Centreville >_<)
Finally got to the Rideau Center, didn't see Alex anywhere, which was perfectly understandable since it was almost two hours after we were supposed to meet (!). I figure Beeby probably didn't just go home, or go on without me, so I grab a bite to eat and plunk myself down in the foodcourt for a chapter or two of "Woman Who Rides Like A Man" (it's not what you think :P). Beeby does catch up with me, which is great, after which he grabs a bite as well and we wander around Rideau for a while. He buys a bus pass, we get on the bus to the music store.
We do only have to take one bus to get there, but once again I've forgotten how much bigger Ottawa is than Thunder Bay. I also confuse a)the point at which we're supposed to get off (although we did get back on again), and b)the house number (for lack of a better term), which causes us to wander up and down one of those huge pedestrian-unfriendly Intercity-like streets. We get there before it closes, though, which is nice. We wander around the store, Beeby laments about Robbie Williams' lack of popularity in North America, and he ends up buying only the Italian whatever as I'm fairly confident I can do the rest with just the chords. I lament over lack of funds to buy Ben Folds sheet music.
Further wander up and down the pedestrian-unfriendly Intercity-like street to find the correct stop to catch a bus back to campus. Cross our fingers and hope we don't have to pay another fare, as I have run out of bus tickets.
...
We don't! Yay!
Get back to res, meet Saille for supper in the caf, go back to my room to watch various other animation-type things, Beeby and Saille go back to their respective homes. I do some other stuff, everybody else gets here (something approaching on-time too!), I be anti-social since there's still a bunch of other stuff I should do. Eventually I fall asleep.
Thursday:
Also known as the first day of awesomeness. Beeby was really pissed for some reason which I never quite got around to finding out, but we still managed to meet him in the Market Square for brunch/lupper. We also go to an awesome dessert place called the something Moulin (so inexpensive, too!). After that, we splinter off into various groups. Me and Beeby go to the local Starbucks, 'cause he's in deprivation, and we ogle the desserts with no desire to actually buy any (well, maybe a little). Beeby goes back to meet everyone else at the Fruit Market, I go to a Japanese corner store to buy Pocky. After getting turned around a few times, I eventually find it and head back to meet everyone at the Fruit Market too. Get there in time to add blood oranges and strawberries to the list of already hideously expensive fruit that was in our basket (watermelon, pineapple, cactus pears, grapes, a mango...I'm sure I'm forgetting some). In the end, it only came to about $25 all-together, which is fairly cheap considering the volume and quality of fruit we bought, although that's still a rather expensive fruit salad.
Me, Gerard and Saille head back to the dorms to unload all the fruit, while Beeby, Shivaun and Rianne shop. I force-feed a bit more of my music (hurrah for Icelandic lounge Nirvana covers!). We also go to a grocery store to pick up other random things like waffles and yogourt. When we get to the dorms, Gerard stays behind to guard the car while me and Saille unload the fruit in my dorm. Realizing it would probably be a good idea to figure out where Beeby, Rianne and Saille are before Gerard and Saille go back to get them, I search my room for Beeby's cell number to no avail.
Meanwhile, Gerard has disappeared somewhere, making it hard for Saille to tell him what was going on. Beeby calls back to find out the same thing, immediately after Saille has left. I really don't have that much of an idea. At any rate, Gerard and Saille are to meet them at Trivium in the Rideau Centre (a rather awesome little store), where Rianne had bought a far too expensive +3/awesomeness +3/cleavage shirt (she wouldn't even tell me how much it was) and Shivaun has bought a jacket with similar stats.
By the time everything is sorted out and they get back, it's starting to get a touch late. We figure it's too late for clubbing, although we do end up going to Pub Italia for supper. Mmmm...various forms of pasta. I leave my book behind, still haven't gotten around to getting it back or even finding out if it's still there (people are so starting to catch on to book crossing at the wrong time). We come back, go to Saille's room for sleep (although I go back to mine).
Friday:
The second day of awesomeness. Everyone comes over to my room for fruit salad and cinnamon waffles...mmmm...the pineapple was the best, shortly followed by the blood oranges and mango. The strawberries were a bit bitter, which is to be expected at this time of year. The best part, however, was when one of my waffles split open, creating the waffle pita! Mmmm...butter and cinnamon waffles and fruit all mixed up together in a warm glowing warming glow. Beeby got there eventually, and we even managed to save some for him. I tried to be anti-social, to no avail.
At some point me and Beeby go down to Abstentions to pick up some ramen, although we also grab Coke, chips, salsa, Dubble Bubble and gummy snakes for everybody.
We kind of generally hung out in my room (cuddle puddles, reading and napping on my comfortable-for-a-slab-of-concrete window ledge) until it was time to go clubbing, for which we had impeccable timing (got there just before the line formed! Huzzah!). The francophones had reclaimed the club in the honour of Quebec, meaning they were playing awesome French hip-hop and techno-y folk-ish whatnot instead of the boring American whatnot they usually play. As awesome as it was, though, it was kind of...intimidating when everyone around you is yelling the lyrics and you can only barely understand them. We get back, *trying* to be quiet, although we still manage to wake up my roommate while making ramen. And it was good ramen. Very, very quiet ramen, but good ramen nonetheless. We all go back to Saille's room to crash.
Saturday:
This is where the days of awesomeness kind of took a break. Since I'd been flip-flopping a lot over whether or not I was going to Montreal, I volunteered to take the Greyhound seat since Gerard's car would be overloaded otherwise. The ticket was about $10 less than I was informed, and the ride was fairly uneventful (although I hadn't managed to snag Beeby's discman), but once that was over things just started becoming...less than fantastic. I got in at 5, fine, there should still be some time to do stuff since everyone got here long before me, right?
...
Right?
So here I am, trying to phone Beeby's cell phone (I had the number this time), discovering that you can't make collect calls to them and ending up paying for a four dollar phone call. No answer. I dial the number about twenty more times (that's an exaggeration. It was actually only six). Still no answer. Sigh. Go into the convenience store, buy and assemble a Kinder Surprise toy.
I try calling again. Finally, Beeby answers. His cell phone didn't ring for whatever reason (apparently they were out of signal range). They're just getting into town, since the Montreal road system is apparently more difficult to navigate than anticipated. So I wait. Read a couple of chapters of "The Vampire Lestat". Start getting slightly worried (although I was more annoyed, to tell the truth...I don't think my brain wanted to think about the other option).
End up making another $4 phone call to Beeby's cell, I get a tad short with him, after which he swears that they're only ten minutes away now and should be there any minute. Give up trying to read the book and just look at the flashy lights on the broken game in front of me. Eventually Saille and Shivaun come through the door and glomp me, which was slightly awkward as I'm still feeling slightly miffed and unready for forgiveness. The hotel's only two blocks away, so we walk there and get rooms and such.
Things do get awesome again, but only for a few of us. Who will it be? I know, but this entry is getting a touch long and the hour's getting a bit late, so I'll write the other half at a more decent one.
Edit: September 7, 2005.
It's taken quite a long while, hasn't it? The rest of the trip went something like this:
After we dumped all our stuff at the rooms, we discovered there was some sort of Festival in Montreal at the time. This was where we went to meet one of Gerard's old fencing friends, whose name I have now forgotten. Along with her came one of her friends. As I recall, there was some difficulty getting together with them, even though we picked a massive, massive landmark to meet by. It was this great big glowing globe thing, with pretty lights shining on it. There was a line-up to get in, and alas we were never to find out exactly what was inside. Perhaps the massive crowd surrounding it made it a bad place to meet-up, but I digress.
After much calling and wandering back and forth, we eventually did meet up with Gerard's friend, who I am from now on going to call Laura for simplicity's sake. Laura's friend, I shall call Jolanda. We wandered about the festival, looking for a place to eat. Alas, all the places nearby were very full, due to the festival. Laura and Jolanda went their own way, and the rest of us ended up in the underground city.
By this point we were all getting a touch short with each other, as noone knew what we wanted to do, nevermind where to do it. The only possible exception was a great need for food, but most of the underground city seemed to be closed by then. Eventually, someone was relegated as leader and we followed, pining for the food which never seemed to be on the right side of a pane of glass. Beeby split off, needing a bit of time to himself after a long, cramped car ride.
Luckily, we did find a place to eat before we began cannibalizing each other. The place we found was a bit odd: an uneasy middle-ground between a Denny's and a Macdonalds, with a pinch of some unidentifiable spice that you're not sure if you like. Nevertheless, any port in a storm is a good one, we got food, and everyone's moods immediately lifted (with the exception of Rianne, who felt a bit queasy). We even managed to split up what everyone owes everyone else. We went back to the hotel to further plan our evening.
Beeby caught up with us at the hotel (or something), mentioning the club he'd heard about in the gay village that he wished to go check out. Gerard, meanwhile, was planning a second rendez-vous with Laura (or something). The end result being a split group, with Rianne, Shivaun and Beeby gone in search of gay club, and me and Gerard in search of Irish pub. Saille stayed back at the hotel due to headache.
So, me and Gerard begin a trek down St. Catherine's, searching for a street and a club we're pretty sure exists somewhere in the vicinity and is called something like Albert's (we weren't quite sure what is was called at the time, either). It ended up being a bit further than we expected, resulting in some doubling-back until we found a helpful map telling us we hadn't passed the street we were looking for. I got a bit of a surprise then: a section of street I actually recognized from the band trip a couple of years back! And then we walk past all the awesome shops it would have been nice to wander with everyone else. Ah well.
Bitterness put aside, we find the bar, as well as Laura. Laura introduces us to her friend, who introduces us to her friends. There was quite the chain going, as Laura's friend's friends were introduced to Laura, then Laura introduced them to Gerard, and Gerard introduced them to me. We all got some alcohol, and danced to the very awesome live Irish band. I recognized some songs! As I recall, they played "Home for a Rest" and "Farewell to Nova Scotia".
Afterwards, we went in search of skating rink. Due the winter festival thing, there was a shuttle bus making the rounds of the city, which we managed to catch a ride on. I expressed disbelief in Gerard's never skating before. And so, we got skates and made some very slow circuits around the pond. There was a central area with multi-coloured lights, attached to a ring with less-colourful lights. And a grand ole time was had by all there.
By this point, it was getting a bit early in the morning, so we began making our way back to the hotel. The shuttle bus took us back to the great big mall near our hotel. There was supposed to be free food there, but alas, there was already a massive line-up. So, we all went our separate ways. Me and Gerard went back to the hotel, arriving at about 6 am. I fell asleep on the floor, Gerard claimed space on a bed.
What counts as Sunday:
We woke up some time later that morning. I discover that me and Gerard had somehow managed to steal everyone else's luck, as we were the only ones who had any success with our plans for the night. Beeby, Rianne and Shivaun had had no luck whatsoever finding the gay bar, and probably walked right past it a number of times. They had returned to the hotel sometime around midnight. I feel a bit guilty, and try not to talk about the awesomeness of the night too much.
I get a ride back to the Greyhound station, the rest begin their road-trek back to Ottawa. I get a slightly questionable chicken burger at the little restaurant in the station, and catch the Greyhound back to Ottawa with little difficulty. I get to Ottawa's Greyhound station, and catch a city bus to Carleton in time to say goodbye to everyone.
And so ends a great and wonderful time.
Reading week! Full of awesome.
Monday: Nothing of note really happened.
Tuesday: Didn't go to sleep the night before, crashed around noon-ish. Saille called at around 5-ish, asking if I wanted to go catch Beeby when he landed. Get there half an hour early or so, since the O-train is faster than the bus. I get sour-cream timbits (♥) and Saille gets hot chocolate from the Tim Hortons' to kill time. Watch as Beeby's flight inches its way into the next hour. Eventually his plane does land, so we stand around chatting with him and his uncle, who had come to pick him up. After securing the baggage, we go to Zak's to have food. Sadly, we did not have the deep-fried mars bar, although I did get some super-salty poutine.
We finish, Beeby's uncle drops me and Saille off at the university, we go up to Saille's and watch Making Fiends and various other animation-type whatnot, I go back to my dorm room to do various other things (like, I don't know, my webct quiz and room cleanage). I think I end up falling asleep at a fairly decent hour (only 3-ish).
Wednesday:
Me and Beeby go music shopping on Wednesday. He's having some form of audition in Montreal and needs an accompanist (guess who?). Actually managed to catch the right bus (at the right time, no less), although I somehow managed to convince myself it was the wrong one when the driver went off duty (for the Ottawarians, I got on 4 Hurdman, took it up to the Hurdman station, then got on the 4 Downtown/Centreville >_<)
Finally got to the Rideau Center, didn't see Alex anywhere, which was perfectly understandable since it was almost two hours after we were supposed to meet (!). I figure Beeby probably didn't just go home, or go on without me, so I grab a bite to eat and plunk myself down in the foodcourt for a chapter or two of "Woman Who Rides Like A Man" (it's not what you think :P). Beeby does catch up with me, which is great, after which he grabs a bite as well and we wander around Rideau for a while. He buys a bus pass, we get on the bus to the music store.
We do only have to take one bus to get there, but once again I've forgotten how much bigger Ottawa is than Thunder Bay. I also confuse a)the point at which we're supposed to get off (although we did get back on again), and b)the house number (for lack of a better term), which causes us to wander up and down one of those huge pedestrian-unfriendly Intercity-like streets. We get there before it closes, though, which is nice. We wander around the store, Beeby laments about Robbie Williams' lack of popularity in North America, and he ends up buying only the Italian whatever as I'm fairly confident I can do the rest with just the chords. I lament over lack of funds to buy Ben Folds sheet music.
Further wander up and down the pedestrian-unfriendly Intercity-like street to find the correct stop to catch a bus back to campus. Cross our fingers and hope we don't have to pay another fare, as I have run out of bus tickets.
...
We don't! Yay!
Get back to res, meet Saille for supper in the caf, go back to my room to watch various other animation-type things, Beeby and Saille go back to their respective homes. I do some other stuff, everybody else gets here (something approaching on-time too!), I be anti-social since there's still a bunch of other stuff I should do. Eventually I fall asleep.
Thursday:
Also known as the first day of awesomeness. Beeby was really pissed for some reason which I never quite got around to finding out, but we still managed to meet him in the Market Square for brunch/lupper. We also go to an awesome dessert place called the something Moulin (so inexpensive, too!). After that, we splinter off into various groups. Me and Beeby go to the local Starbucks, 'cause he's in deprivation, and we ogle the desserts with no desire to actually buy any (well, maybe a little). Beeby goes back to meet everyone else at the Fruit Market, I go to a Japanese corner store to buy Pocky. After getting turned around a few times, I eventually find it and head back to meet everyone at the Fruit Market too. Get there in time to add blood oranges and strawberries to the list of already hideously expensive fruit that was in our basket (watermelon, pineapple, cactus pears, grapes, a mango...I'm sure I'm forgetting some). In the end, it only came to about $25 all-together, which is fairly cheap considering the volume and quality of fruit we bought, although that's still a rather expensive fruit salad.
Me, Gerard and Saille head back to the dorms to unload all the fruit, while Beeby, Shivaun and Rianne shop. I force-feed a bit more of my music (hurrah for Icelandic lounge Nirvana covers!). We also go to a grocery store to pick up other random things like waffles and yogourt. When we get to the dorms, Gerard stays behind to guard the car while me and Saille unload the fruit in my dorm. Realizing it would probably be a good idea to figure out where Beeby, Rianne and Saille are before Gerard and Saille go back to get them, I search my room for Beeby's cell number to no avail.
Meanwhile, Gerard has disappeared somewhere, making it hard for Saille to tell him what was going on. Beeby calls back to find out the same thing, immediately after Saille has left. I really don't have that much of an idea. At any rate, Gerard and Saille are to meet them at Trivium in the Rideau Centre (a rather awesome little store), where Rianne had bought a far too expensive +3/awesomeness +3/cleavage shirt (she wouldn't even tell me how much it was) and Shivaun has bought a jacket with similar stats.
By the time everything is sorted out and they get back, it's starting to get a touch late. We figure it's too late for clubbing, although we do end up going to Pub Italia for supper. Mmmm...various forms of pasta. I leave my book behind, still haven't gotten around to getting it back or even finding out if it's still there (people are so starting to catch on to book crossing at the wrong time). We come back, go to Saille's room for sleep (although I go back to mine).
Friday:
The second day of awesomeness. Everyone comes over to my room for fruit salad and cinnamon waffles...mmmm...the pineapple was the best, shortly followed by the blood oranges and mango. The strawberries were a bit bitter, which is to be expected at this time of year. The best part, however, was when one of my waffles split open, creating the waffle pita! Mmmm...butter and cinnamon waffles and fruit all mixed up together in a warm glowing warming glow. Beeby got there eventually, and we even managed to save some for him. I tried to be anti-social, to no avail.
At some point me and Beeby go down to Abstentions to pick up some ramen, although we also grab Coke, chips, salsa, Dubble Bubble and gummy snakes for everybody.
We kind of generally hung out in my room (cuddle puddles, reading and napping on my comfortable-for-a-slab-of-concrete window ledge) until it was time to go clubbing, for which we had impeccable timing (got there just before the line formed! Huzzah!). The francophones had reclaimed the club in the honour of Quebec, meaning they were playing awesome French hip-hop and techno-y folk-ish whatnot instead of the boring American whatnot they usually play. As awesome as it was, though, it was kind of...intimidating when everyone around you is yelling the lyrics and you can only barely understand them. We get back, *trying* to be quiet, although we still manage to wake up my roommate while making ramen. And it was good ramen. Very, very quiet ramen, but good ramen nonetheless. We all go back to Saille's room to crash.
Saturday:
This is where the days of awesomeness kind of took a break. Since I'd been flip-flopping a lot over whether or not I was going to Montreal, I volunteered to take the Greyhound seat since Gerard's car would be overloaded otherwise. The ticket was about $10 less than I was informed, and the ride was fairly uneventful (although I hadn't managed to snag Beeby's discman), but once that was over things just started becoming...less than fantastic. I got in at 5, fine, there should still be some time to do stuff since everyone got here long before me, right?
...
Right?
So here I am, trying to phone Beeby's cell phone (I had the number this time), discovering that you can't make collect calls to them and ending up paying for a four dollar phone call. No answer. I dial the number about twenty more times (that's an exaggeration. It was actually only six). Still no answer. Sigh. Go into the convenience store, buy and assemble a Kinder Surprise toy.
I try calling again. Finally, Beeby answers. His cell phone didn't ring for whatever reason (apparently they were out of signal range). They're just getting into town, since the Montreal road system is apparently more difficult to navigate than anticipated. So I wait. Read a couple of chapters of "The Vampire Lestat". Start getting slightly worried (although I was more annoyed, to tell the truth...I don't think my brain wanted to think about the other option).
End up making another $4 phone call to Beeby's cell, I get a tad short with him, after which he swears that they're only ten minutes away now and should be there any minute. Give up trying to read the book and just look at the flashy lights on the broken game in front of me. Eventually Saille and Shivaun come through the door and glomp me, which was slightly awkward as I'm still feeling slightly miffed and unready for forgiveness. The hotel's only two blocks away, so we walk there and get rooms and such.
Things do get awesome again, but only for a few of us. Who will it be? I know, but this entry is getting a touch long and the hour's getting a bit late, so I'll write the other half at a more decent one.
Edit: September 7, 2005.
It's taken quite a long while, hasn't it? The rest of the trip went something like this:
After we dumped all our stuff at the rooms, we discovered there was some sort of Festival in Montreal at the time. This was where we went to meet one of Gerard's old fencing friends, whose name I have now forgotten. Along with her came one of her friends. As I recall, there was some difficulty getting together with them, even though we picked a massive, massive landmark to meet by. It was this great big glowing globe thing, with pretty lights shining on it. There was a line-up to get in, and alas we were never to find out exactly what was inside. Perhaps the massive crowd surrounding it made it a bad place to meet-up, but I digress.
After much calling and wandering back and forth, we eventually did meet up with Gerard's friend, who I am from now on going to call Laura for simplicity's sake. Laura's friend, I shall call Jolanda. We wandered about the festival, looking for a place to eat. Alas, all the places nearby were very full, due to the festival. Laura and Jolanda went their own way, and the rest of us ended up in the underground city.
By this point we were all getting a touch short with each other, as noone knew what we wanted to do, nevermind where to do it. The only possible exception was a great need for food, but most of the underground city seemed to be closed by then. Eventually, someone was relegated as leader and we followed, pining for the food which never seemed to be on the right side of a pane of glass. Beeby split off, needing a bit of time to himself after a long, cramped car ride.
Luckily, we did find a place to eat before we began cannibalizing each other. The place we found was a bit odd: an uneasy middle-ground between a Denny's and a Macdonalds, with a pinch of some unidentifiable spice that you're not sure if you like. Nevertheless, any port in a storm is a good one, we got food, and everyone's moods immediately lifted (with the exception of Rianne, who felt a bit queasy). We even managed to split up what everyone owes everyone else. We went back to the hotel to further plan our evening.
Beeby caught up with us at the hotel (or something), mentioning the club he'd heard about in the gay village that he wished to go check out. Gerard, meanwhile, was planning a second rendez-vous with Laura (or something). The end result being a split group, with Rianne, Shivaun and Beeby gone in search of gay club, and me and Gerard in search of Irish pub. Saille stayed back at the hotel due to headache.
So, me and Gerard begin a trek down St. Catherine's, searching for a street and a club we're pretty sure exists somewhere in the vicinity and is called something like Albert's (we weren't quite sure what is was called at the time, either). It ended up being a bit further than we expected, resulting in some doubling-back until we found a helpful map telling us we hadn't passed the street we were looking for. I got a bit of a surprise then: a section of street I actually recognized from the band trip a couple of years back! And then we walk past all the awesome shops it would have been nice to wander with everyone else. Ah well.
Bitterness put aside, we find the bar, as well as Laura. Laura introduces us to her friend, who introduces us to her friends. There was quite the chain going, as Laura's friend's friends were introduced to Laura, then Laura introduced them to Gerard, and Gerard introduced them to me. We all got some alcohol, and danced to the very awesome live Irish band. I recognized some songs! As I recall, they played "Home for a Rest" and "Farewell to Nova Scotia".
Afterwards, we went in search of skating rink. Due the winter festival thing, there was a shuttle bus making the rounds of the city, which we managed to catch a ride on. I expressed disbelief in Gerard's never skating before. And so, we got skates and made some very slow circuits around the pond. There was a central area with multi-coloured lights, attached to a ring with less-colourful lights. And a grand ole time was had by all there.
By this point, it was getting a bit early in the morning, so we began making our way back to the hotel. The shuttle bus took us back to the great big mall near our hotel. There was supposed to be free food there, but alas, there was already a massive line-up. So, we all went our separate ways. Me and Gerard went back to the hotel, arriving at about 6 am. I fell asleep on the floor, Gerard claimed space on a bed.
What counts as Sunday:
We woke up some time later that morning. I discover that me and Gerard had somehow managed to steal everyone else's luck, as we were the only ones who had any success with our plans for the night. Beeby, Rianne and Shivaun had had no luck whatsoever finding the gay bar, and probably walked right past it a number of times. They had returned to the hotel sometime around midnight. I feel a bit guilty, and try not to talk about the awesomeness of the night too much.
I get a ride back to the Greyhound station, the rest begin their road-trek back to Ottawa. I get a slightly questionable chicken burger at the little restaurant in the station, and catch the Greyhound back to Ottawa with little difficulty. I get to Ottawa's Greyhound station, and catch a city bus to Carleton in time to say goodbye to everyone.
And so ends a great and wonderful time.