About optimism and busy schedules

Friday was a good day. The morning was spent hanging out over crêpes with my colleagues of the Mountain Conservation Patrol.

I spent the afternoon trying to arrange my flight to Baltimore.

That evening I picked up Dave at work and we went to the movies - we ended up seeing The 40 year old Virgin. I had low expectations and ended up quite pleased. It was a good laugh.

Satur-day was a bit bleh. It rained like it only rains in Montreal, so Dave and I stayed in, watched Angel's season 2, read, and did other relaxing activities.

In the evening, we had a dinner party at Krishna's, to celebrate her departure to Tanzania. K is a former colleague from Bar school. She landed an articling position at the Arusha International tribunal. This is amazing for her, as she has a L.L.M in international law, and has a very complete fascination for the issue raised at the tribunal. The dinner was pleasant and provided some interesting connections. I met there people who :

• had been body-guard to the actual RDC president ;
• had been to Senegal ;
• had lived in Argentina ;
• had lived in Thailand.

It was fun to meet travelled people. Amongst other things, I learned about something that any-body who lives/works far from home should know about. I learned about Voice Over Internet Protocols. For a flat (reasonable) fee, you can have unlimited phone calls to home, and you can take your number anywhere with you. This means I could leave to the Bora Bora Islands, and be reachable on my 514 number.

Check out the services !

• Primus
• Teliphone
• Babytel
• Vonage

Sunday was mostly spent recuperating. Dave was out with Friends, so I hung out and had dinner with my mother.

Monday was good. I hung out with K (she's flying on wednesday) and had a girly talk. We're in similar situations, with our careers and boyfriends, so it was good to talk with someone who understands.

I then met up with my mum to go shopping for a top to wear for my interview. I actually HATE clothes-shopping for myself (hate, hate, hate.) I always feel like what I like doesn't fit me, and when something fits me, I usually hate it. The thing is, I'm chubby, and my mum has a tendency to favor larger sizes, which make me look like I'm wearing a potato bag. Guess why I usually stick to jeans ! I think I need half-sizes or something. And to make matters worse, I'm very tall, which means pants usually are too short on me. We ended up at Reitmans' where I found a petroleum blue blouse that I loved and nice chic black pants. I'm really not a color/pattern person, so that was a good compromise. I always end up buying my stuff there. I really should stop going to other places.

After that, we made for the Cinema Excentris where we saw Saraband, by swedish film maker Ingmar Bergman. If you can put your hands on this movie, by all means, do see it. It's rough, disturbing at times, but it also carries beautiful sentiments. Liv Ullman is beautiful and intense. Just seeing her makes it worth it. We don't have enough movies where seniors are the center. I think I like Liv because her character reminded me of my mother.

I then had a late dinner with Dave at a small italian place on Fleury st. It was the occasion for us to talk, prepare for what's ahead, and confront opinions on what will happen next. Bottom line is, he supports me, I support him, he's worried about me, I'm worried about him, and we're worried about us. Bottom line is, we love each other very much and want to keep it that way.

Today, I'll hang out, clean the house, pick up some documentation on auditing at my mum's work, and train with Dave in the evening. On thursday, I'm getting a haircut. Joy. (can you feel the enthusiasm ?)

ON ON !

The Beaver