Long Update
Last Friday: I got a letter saying that I owe 2005 taxes on my car because Somerville thought I still lived there. qarylla got a birthday party at queenofpink77's, mr_q_o_p's and jr_psykira's place. There was much of Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution Party, the latter of which made my throat do flip-flops after taking a song I didn't know followed by "Take On Me". prevenger prepared a low-everything carrot cake, which was very tasty. Her presents were more services than goods, but she seemed pleased (especially at the two "Madame Butterfly" CDs, which would have been three if I didn't hear about that did show up and another that was planned ahead of time). Also present were airuvande, dm_bashir, middle_sis, georgy, Little Brother (where have you been?!) and ofthefuture. Bedtime was early, because qarylla had a knitting trip to Vermont the next day.
Last Saturday: I went to the bank to get ID and cash for the trip, then sat at home alone while qarylla petted sheep and ate interesting food. That night, I watched game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Last Sunday: In the morning, I took Saru-chan to middle_sis', where the fuzzball would hide, diet and eventually deign to be admired. In the afternoon, qarylla and I went to Fire and Ice with keshwyn, alhandra and meiczyslaw. It was the first time I met the latter two, and the first time qarylla had seen alhandra for many moons. Fun was had and huge pancakes were eaten. I need to trade LostMagic friend codes with alhandra. We also obtained a book and some interesting dice from Curious George, the last interesting store in Harvard Square. That night, qarylla and I set out on the uneventful half of the bus trip to Toronto.
Monday: In the morning, we got slightly hassled by customs entering Canada. We arrived at the hotel around 11, checked in and went searching for lunch. We found Sunset Grill, which had happy cow walls and claimed that our omelets contained 8 eggs. On the way, we saw signs for the Hockey Hall of Fame, which we went to next. This involved a lot of looking at (and occasionally making jokes about) jerseys and hardware. I got my dad a Father's Day gift there, which I mailed the next day. Dinner was at the Pickle Barrel, which was fancier than any restaurant whose name contains the words "pickle" or "barrel" deserves to be. That night, I tried to watch game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals, but could not stay awake.
Tuesday: In the morning, qarylla and I discussed what to do with the day. We considered Casa Loma before deciding on the Royal Ontario Museum, which is usually called ROM by locals (which made us both want to shout "But why is the ROM gone?" at the concierge). We mostly stayed in the Asian and animal sections. qarylla kept spinning the wheel of life forms, but only managed something other than "insect" on about the 20th try. I forgot that Canada counts as "not the USA" for purposes of crazy soccer fans. Lunch was the obligatory Tim Horton's visit (good donuts, not so great coffee), and dinner was Aroma, an Indian restaurant that scales spiciness on 1 to 4 stars, but offered to make us a dish with 5 or 6. We decided against that, as we were going to still be in public afterwards. That night we saw The Lord of the Rings Onstage. Fantastic show, though Gandalf was whiny, and we brought something back for everyone (but are saving it for a certain future date). The people next to us were taking pictures, got warned during intermission, and then took more (and got to delete them all for an usher after the show).
Wednesday: We had lunch at the CN Tower. My fear of heights didn't kick in until I looked down the glass floor (otherwise that picture would have been better). I didn't mind paying $60 apiece to go to the 360 Restaurant, because we got a great (slowly rotating) view, tasty food in bigbigbig portions and VIP access to the elevators. We spent more time than we should have at their gift shop (and I almost played In The Groove 2 there), then qarylla went to Lettuce Knit for the Yarn Harlot's birthday while I did a bit of shopping and then went home to watch the World Cup and game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Thursday: After mailing some things home to lighten our luggage, we mostly killed time wandering around the city until it was time to leave. Lunch was at Spring Rolls, which had uninspiring food and a huge wait between ordering and eating (as in, other people arrived, ate and left in that time). After that, we went to the harbor, where we spent far too much time in Toy Terminal, which had a better selection of games than any store I have ever been in (sadly, it has no web presence, and so gets none of my money). Eventually, we made our way to the bus terminal, where the first bus was overbooked by something like 90%. They did send a second bus, which we got on without any problems.
Friday: We passed through customs early in the morning, and got majorly hassled - not quite a strip search, but just about everything but. We eventually made it home, and no more than half an hour after scheduled. We had game (one of dm_bashir's better sessions), picked up Saru-chan (middle_sis, we owe you... something. We're not sure what yet.) and then crashed.
Saturday: Apparently, I lost 2 pounds in Canada. Either the metric conversion was very generous, or walking everywhere cancelled all the eating out we did. I qualified for the 2006 Pokémon Video Game National Championships in the afternoon. It really wasn't that hard, once I realized that their website hates everything not IE. qarylla and I went to the bookstore and then watched the World Cup and game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals (seeing a trend here?).
Sunday: qarylla has game with enochs_fable, so I sat at home and alternately moped, played video games and watched the World Cup. I discovered that I left a case with some GBA/DS games somewhere, and made inquiries about where. I called my dad last night - he obviously hasn't gotten his present yet.
Today: The car tax situation is mostly resolved - I owe someone (I didn't pay because everyone still thought I lived in Somerville except the person who would have forwarded the bill to me), and the RMV has to tell me who. I am back at work and have far too much to do to be writing 1,207 words on LJ.
After all that, I feel like I'm missing so much. Pester me for anecdotes; I know I have plenty.
Pictures are at my Webshots page, in case anyone missed my post this weekend.
Last Saturday: I went to the bank to get ID and cash for the trip, then sat at home alone while qarylla petted sheep and ate interesting food. That night, I watched game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Last Sunday: In the morning, I took Saru-chan to middle_sis', where the fuzzball would hide, diet and eventually deign to be admired. In the afternoon, qarylla and I went to Fire and Ice with keshwyn, alhandra and meiczyslaw. It was the first time I met the latter two, and the first time qarylla had seen alhandra for many moons. Fun was had and huge pancakes were eaten. I need to trade LostMagic friend codes with alhandra. We also obtained a book and some interesting dice from Curious George, the last interesting store in Harvard Square. That night, qarylla and I set out on the uneventful half of the bus trip to Toronto.
Monday: In the morning, we got slightly hassled by customs entering Canada. We arrived at the hotel around 11, checked in and went searching for lunch. We found Sunset Grill, which had happy cow walls and claimed that our omelets contained 8 eggs. On the way, we saw signs for the Hockey Hall of Fame, which we went to next. This involved a lot of looking at (and occasionally making jokes about) jerseys and hardware. I got my dad a Father's Day gift there, which I mailed the next day. Dinner was at the Pickle Barrel, which was fancier than any restaurant whose name contains the words "pickle" or "barrel" deserves to be. That night, I tried to watch game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals, but could not stay awake.
Tuesday: In the morning, qarylla and I discussed what to do with the day. We considered Casa Loma before deciding on the Royal Ontario Museum, which is usually called ROM by locals (which made us both want to shout "But why is the ROM gone?" at the concierge). We mostly stayed in the Asian and animal sections. qarylla kept spinning the wheel of life forms, but only managed something other than "insect" on about the 20th try. I forgot that Canada counts as "not the USA" for purposes of crazy soccer fans. Lunch was the obligatory Tim Horton's visit (good donuts, not so great coffee), and dinner was Aroma, an Indian restaurant that scales spiciness on 1 to 4 stars, but offered to make us a dish with 5 or 6. We decided against that, as we were going to still be in public afterwards. That night we saw The Lord of the Rings Onstage. Fantastic show, though Gandalf was whiny, and we brought something back for everyone (but are saving it for a certain future date). The people next to us were taking pictures, got warned during intermission, and then took more (and got to delete them all for an usher after the show).
Wednesday: We had lunch at the CN Tower. My fear of heights didn't kick in until I looked down the glass floor (otherwise that picture would have been better). I didn't mind paying $60 apiece to go to the 360 Restaurant, because we got a great (slowly rotating) view, tasty food in bigbigbig portions and VIP access to the elevators. We spent more time than we should have at their gift shop (and I almost played In The Groove 2 there), then qarylla went to Lettuce Knit for the Yarn Harlot's birthday while I did a bit of shopping and then went home to watch the World Cup and game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Thursday: After mailing some things home to lighten our luggage, we mostly killed time wandering around the city until it was time to leave. Lunch was at Spring Rolls, which had uninspiring food and a huge wait between ordering and eating (as in, other people arrived, ate and left in that time). After that, we went to the harbor, where we spent far too much time in Toy Terminal, which had a better selection of games than any store I have ever been in (sadly, it has no web presence, and so gets none of my money). Eventually, we made our way to the bus terminal, where the first bus was overbooked by something like 90%. They did send a second bus, which we got on without any problems.
Friday: We passed through customs early in the morning, and got majorly hassled - not quite a strip search, but just about everything but. We eventually made it home, and no more than half an hour after scheduled. We had game (one of dm_bashir's better sessions), picked up Saru-chan (middle_sis, we owe you... something. We're not sure what yet.) and then crashed.
Saturday: Apparently, I lost 2 pounds in Canada. Either the metric conversion was very generous, or walking everywhere cancelled all the eating out we did. I qualified for the 2006 Pokémon Video Game National Championships in the afternoon. It really wasn't that hard, once I realized that their website hates everything not IE. qarylla and I went to the bookstore and then watched the World Cup and game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals (seeing a trend here?).
Sunday: qarylla has game with enochs_fable, so I sat at home and alternately moped, played video games and watched the World Cup. I discovered that I left a case with some GBA/DS games somewhere, and made inquiries about where. I called my dad last night - he obviously hasn't gotten his present yet.
Today: The car tax situation is mostly resolved - I owe someone (I didn't pay because everyone still thought I lived in Somerville except the person who would have forwarded the bill to me), and the RMV has to tell me who. I am back at work and have far too much to do to be writing 1,207 words on LJ.
After all that, I feel like I'm missing so much. Pester me for anecdotes; I know I have plenty.
Pictures are at my Webshots page, in case anyone missed my post this weekend.