I had dinner with Darlene, Matty’s mom, yesterday.  I still find odd to call adults by their first name, but I’m slowly getting used to it.  I keep wanting to say “Matty’s Mom” or “Ms. Good”; instead we are equals and I am to call her Darlene.

Anyway, we made a feast!  She taught me how to make a simple basic cream sauce, then we made pasta, simply spiced chicken thighs, and a salad.  I also made a strawberry shortcake, much to her delight. 

I took some more pictures of the cats so I can send them to Karin, Matty’s sister, who misses them on occasion.  I think she’ll like the pictures.

Yesterday also marked the release of the North American version of Kingdom Hearts 2.  I didn’t forget.  Matty’s mom also remembered.  She thinks there’s a special promotion in Best Buy on Friday for the game, so she may inform me later if I should go on Friday to purchase it.  She got me a Best Buy card for Christmas and I’ve been saving it until this moment.  So close.  So close.

Inge, my brilliant engineer friend (uh, second to my brilliant and wonderful engineer boyfriend), is currently trying to design my dream ryokan.  He wants to apply to an architectural firm and he needs a portfolio.  He needed inspiration so I told him to try to design my ryokan as an exercise.  So far, he’s been doing some sketches that I am to look at today at dinner.

Been keeping busy, but that sci-fi essay due date is looming dangerously closer and closer.  :(  On a happier note, 18 more days until Matty comes back!  He called me the other morning and I was on pins and needles with glee.  I missed him since I heard nothing from him for a long while. (4-5 days!)  I fear him to be drowned in a canal in Venice after he upset an gondalier.

On a side note, two high school acquaintances of mine, Mack Male and Dickson Wong, just won first on the Wes Nicol competition.  A BIG BIG CONGRATS!

For my Japan 322 class (Modern Japanese Literature), we are to write a short story in the perspective of a woman who has experienced immediate post-war Japan. We are to write in her perspective and then justify the style of story and the themes in it.

The result is the following. I haven’t written in ’story-style’ for a while, so I’m unsure how good the story is. Read it and tell me what you think.

Therapy Sessions

“Am I … Am I like him?”

“At first, you were. Now, I’m not sure.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I see you as you; here right, right now. If you were him as he were, I don’t think I could love you.”

“Why? What happened between you and him?”

“Well, when we — ”

“Shh, don’t say anymore.”

“Why?”

“You’ll forgot that I’m the one that’s here, not him”

She was lying on her back, with his head resting on her shoulder. The darkness transfixed her; took possession of her, enveloped and penetrating. She summoned for all her remaining strength, straining every nerve, and waited for death. The darkness — the infinite night of formless immensity of space — extended and grew larger and larger around her as she seemed to be growing smaller and smaller. She waited … She pressed her hands to her face. Her hands and fingers grew cold, numb and hard. She wanted to scream …

***

Relationships inevitably encounter rough patches, but this one seemed … ominous. Lately she’d been wondering how much longer she could go on without listening to the doubting voices in her head, without looking at the discouraging signs along the way.

Tonight she’d come home from the Colemans to find the dinner dishes still stacked in the sink, Johnny sprawled in front of the television. She’d gone to him, kissed him, and had barely noticed his response. Then she’d gone to the kitchen, cleaned up, made her lunch for the next day, hearing the canned laugh track mingled with Johnny’s occasional laughter, louder than usual. It was hard not to feel as though he was rubbing it in that he was enjoying himself while she slaved away.

But she couldn’t think that way. Johnny worked hard — most engineers did, long hours and often late — and she wanted him to have his wind-down time, his leisure.

She just wanted him to need her with him enough so that maybe one day he’ d turn off the TV and come and help her. Really talk to her and really listen. The way he used to.

Jane sighed and pulled her feet up on the window seat, arms around her knees. Jane could see it now: Johnny would look at her like why she was making such a big deal out of everything? With the implied “again” at the end. Life is beautiful, he’d say. You wake up, you do stuff, you go to bed.

Wake up. Do stuff. Go to bed. Wake up. Do stuff. Go to bed. Wake up. Do stuff. Go to bed. Everyday. Yes, but there used to be more magic, even in that. Not this long winding journey into the banal.

The tears slowed; she sniffed and wiped them away with the back of her hand.

A slight sound made her jump; she turned to see Johnny, bed-ruffled, puzzled, half-asleep, swaying in the doorway of the living room, his tall, beautifully muscled body illuminated by the white light from the street behind her.

“Jane? Janey?” He frowned and peered at her across the room. “Why’d you get out of bed?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

He squinted and took a step toward her. “Are you crying?”

She hesitated. If she said no, she’d be lying. If she said yes, she’d have to explain.

“Well, are you crying or not?”

“I was.”

He made a sound of exasperation. “You’re sitting here crying in the middle of the night? For what reason?”

Jane remained silent. She barely could get a word out for the hot, miserable weight in her chest.

He put his hands on his hips, glaring at her. Opened his mouth to say something, then lifted his one hand and let it slap on his flannel-covered thigh. “Fine. No reason. Good night.”

He walked out of the room, stumbled and swore. She heard the headboard bounce against the wall as he flung himself into their bed. He’ll sleep badly now and blame it on her. Wake up in a bad mood and they’d eat breakfast she prepared in silence that was starting to become horribly familiar.

Jane hugged her knees close to her chest, rested her chin on top of them and let the tears flow again.

She loved John. She loved him with all her heart and had since they’d first met in college — six years ago at the beginning of their senior year — and had begun dating within 3 months of friendship.

But something wasn’t working. Something she had no control over. She wanted him, but she couldn’t make him want her. She wiped the remaining tears and sniffed. She didn’t know exactly what it was or when it had happened or even how to identify it so she could begin to fix it. All she knew was that she was deathly afraid that it would end up tearing them apart.

Small steps is all it takes.

She straightened her back and walked slowly to the kitchen, careful to not make noise. She found the phonebook, took the phone off the hook, searched the directory and dialed.

***

Jane Doe waited patiently in the hospital waiting room for the operation to end. Her eyebrows furrowed into worry as sweat beads began to form. The operation wasn’t suppose to take this long; the procedure was suppose to have ended an hour ago.

The television adjacent to her suddenly flickered on and shouted, ” — FOR YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS, FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE –” and then nothing as the nurse quickly shut the dial. The nurse mumbled, “I hate these faulty televisions sets and these stupid mandatory advertisements. They’re not suppose to be in hospitals.”

She looked around as she wheeled the television set out of the room, caught Jane’s eye and continued her lecture, “I think it’s stupid. Don’t you?” She eyed Jane with a stern look that could only be appeased by complying.

“Yes.” The nurse gave a curt nod and wheeled off as the doctor came in.

Jane stood up to see eye-to-eye to the short pudgy man in the white coat.

“Is he … is he o-ok?”

The doctor removed his spectacles and beamed his small teeth to her. “The operation was a complete success. John Smith, your fiance, is now equipped with the latest bio-engineered empathy chip: the Nexus Empathy Brain Unit 6. It’s better than the last one we gave him. In fact, I think he’s better all around now that he’s partially machine.” He came up to her and whispered. “Oh, the last model forgot to install Romance ver. 3.5. Haha. Manufacturers still make silly mistakes.” He chuckled at his own joke and Jane impatiently held out her hand, anxious for the little machine he was about to give her.

“Now, Janey, you take this dial and …”

***

Johnny poked his head into their kitchen, dressed in his holiday outfit of dark pants and necktie and the red sweater Jane bought specifically for the occasion, jingling the keys impatiently. “Ready?”

Jane looked around at the table covered with cookies she had yet to pack into tins and bit back the obvious reply, DOES IT LOOK LIKE I’M READY? “Not yet.”

“Want some help?” He jingled the keys again to the tune of Jingle Bells until she wanted to rip them out of his hand and throw them out the window.

“No thanks,” she tersely replied. “I can handle it.”

He glanced at the kitchen clock. “I thought you wanted to leave at one.”

She stiffened. Okay, so she was late, why not rub it in a little more? She stopped packing the cookies, frustrated as hell. 4 months had passed since the hospital for their “therapy session” — the term she convinced Johnny was the solution for the random flashes of memories he suffers from. May be nothing had changed. May be she was creating a fantasy. She reached underneath her apron and fingered a small machine with an equally small dial in her jean pocket; she remembered what the doctor told her, “Turn this dial and the settings change. This will make him comply.”

“Jane? Janey?” Johnny stared to stare at her and began to snap his fingers in front of her eyes. “Are you even paying attention?”

She turned the dial. Johnny stiffened and his eyes dilated for a brief moment. A flash of consciousness and recognition, then his shoulders relaxed and he was back to a natural, normal state. He walked up to Jane and he found her mouth for a brief kiss.

“What was I talking about honey?”

Jane smiled. “Nothing important. Wait in the living room.” He quizzically glanced around the kitchen, smiled at Jane and then slowly paced his way to the living room wondering why he was in the kitchen, why he had keys in his hand, and why on earth he was wearing that horrid red sweater Jane had bought him.

—

I was at a loss for names, so I used the generic “John Smith” and “Jane Doe”. Because it reminded me of the movie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I also used references from that movie, like the Coleman’s, John Smith as an engineer, etc. I also had the name Dr. Wezler, their marriage councellor, in my mind but I realized later I never even mentioned the doctor’s name. Haha.

Yeah, it’s science fiction mixed with the typical problems of relationships. Yeah, it’s weird, but then again, what do you expect from a weird girl?

Everything about today was rather happy-go-lucky. Nothing seemed to go wrong. Anyway, I wrote my morning in a story-format:

****

I jolted awake. 5:45am. Where am I?

I know now, absolutely, hearing the white noise that is Matty’s apartment, that I am indeed in Matty’s bedroom. A slight mewing comes from the door from two large cats waiting to be fed. Numbed here in the semi-dark of the bedroom, beneath greyish-green covers, I shuffle myself further down into the bed and looked over to the empty side. The sheet between my skin and the weight of the coverlet is cottony, and they smell faintly of Matt. Only faint as he’s been gone for almost a week and any reminants seems a plus at this point.

Matty is my boyfriend.
Our boy-girl Lego would click, I would say.

Standing now, stepping into my familiar green cotton sweatpants, I stretch and tie my hair into a ponytail. I straighten and shiver. It’s always cold in Matty’s apartment. A faint constant beeping blared from my brown watch — scratches from years prior and a brand-new strap, indicative of its well use — and I shut it and strap the watch onto my left wrist. 6:00am. I am now awake.

A small beam of light poured itself from the small space between the wood floor and the door. Did I leave the light on yesterday? I open the door.

“Oh — yeah. Now she’s awake!”

Matty’s brother, Jeff, was over.

“Mornin’” he said.

“Mmadfa” I mumble back and headed to the washroom to splash water on my face. Last night’s research wasn’t so nice to me and my face was haggard at the attempt to find legitimate articles to be used for final papers. Cool water splashes in my eyes and I notice how jovial Jeff seems to be in the morning. He’s on the phone. He must be talking to the world trekkers now.

He extends his head from the next bedroom, phone in hand and looks at me, “Matty says hi, by the way”

I smile remembering yesterday’s converstation. Time for a bit of teasing. “Tell him to go away. I’m sleepy”. I chuckle as Jeff echoed my response on to the phone. I can just picture Matty smiling. Silly silly boy. I looked to my watch and the glowing light told me that Matty’s coming back in 23 days. Twenty-three more days until Matt comes back; that’s not a lot of time.

In the kitchen I run the tap and drink a glass of water. I fiddle with the switches, one on the stove, one on the top for the stove light. A small frying pan to fry a couple of eggs and a couple slices of toast. The milk was disgustingly rotten: it was due March 13, today is March 24. Blankly surveys the pan while the egg sizzled. Jeff was still chatting away on the phone. I chatted with them yesterday, I think to myself smugly.

I pour the scrambled eggs onto a plate with two slices of toast and began to eat. I sat myself on the counter as, Leo, came to stare at me eye to eye. We stare and for a while, I think he’s preying on my breakfast. I shoo him away to no avail as he remains undaunted by my waving hand.

“Meow meow?” I said. I think that I can communicate with these cats with slight different voice influxs in my voice. Leo straightens himself and turns around. Eating while seeing her behind is not that appetizing. I meow him back to stare at me.

“Meow meow” I say, wondering if they miss their owners, even Matty who would scare them by stomping his feet. As if he understands, Leo looks up, mews again, pads his way to me and nestles his head against my cheek.

“Yeah, mew mew” I pet his tiny head and then pat him away.
****

Leo, your friendly neighbourhood supercat!

After my happy morning, I spent a good hour chatting with Jeff. Nothing really in particular or world-shaking, just a conversation to get to know each other. Mainly we talked about high school shinannigans.

Then I travelled to the jungles of my university.

and I stalked a rabbit.

May be I ended up eating it? I don’t know. No wait — I went to class after. I had an amusing class about Japanese art and art history concerning the grotesque and the erotic. We talked about my favorite Japanese author, Edogawa Ranpo. Not a lot of his work is translated (which I might just do for my own entertainment), but the ones that are translated are absolutely wonderful. To my surprise, a NEW translation that includes more of his works is available. If I can find it, I will get it at the library. Or buy it at a later date.

After, I rushed over to Cookies by George with Murasaki. We chatted a bit and then I stayed eyeing the moist cookies as I waited for Beatrice.

I haven’t talked to Beatrice for such a long time. She had a coffee and a cranberry loafer. I had a hot chocolate and a double trouble cookie, my weakness and favorite cookie. We sat and began chatting, chatting, chatting. I haven’t seen her for so long that we had tons to talk about. Conversation went from one topic to another: boyfriends, Vancouver, school, future ambitions, future fears, Shakespeare and why memorizing passages is suicide, fashion shows, Maggie Walt dresses, exercising, Europe, why London is too damn expensive, etc.

In the converstation, I brought out the fact that I want to learn how to speak Spanish and then travel to a Spanish speaking country. I think I would like to go to Costa Rica. There’s a lot of people who would choose Mexico, Spain, or Argentina, but I think I would rather go to Costa Rica.

After the long converstation between Beatrice and I, I hopped on to a bus to head to work. I spent my day redecorating and this is the end result.

The night ended with Kristine, her brother, and the rest of JAPAKON meeting me at my store so we can head over to my house to watch The Seven Samurai. Well, we made a detour to The Marble Slab for some ice cream and Top’s for some liquor, but we eventually made it to my place.

Another good day. Somewhere in between these good days, I should start writing and researching more on my two final essays. Hohohohohoho.

Out of Matty’s two cats, Leo has to be my favorite.

Today, I plan to take some pictures of Edmonton or anything that interests me. I also won those two Ewok dolls I was bidding on on Ebay! Wooo! I’m getting two Ewoks! Woot woot!

My Friday night will be about working, samurai movies and reading materials for my final essays. In fact, I should have already started writing and planning my sci-fi final essay. So I’m a bit behind my own schedule, I should be able to catch up in the weekend. Woooo!

Feeling: alright; Breakfast: healthy; Days til Matty returns: 25; Times I’ve exercise since Sunday: 4; Times I cursed eBay: 90x+; papaya count today: 4 slices

If people thought they were seeing double today, then Elya and I have succeeded in our latest hijinx. Today, for no reason besides for the “sake of doing it”, Elya and I used my Japanese school uniform and dressed as each other.

We both wore a plaid skirt, white loose socks, white tops with dark blazers. It was a funny thing to behold. Knowing that Murasaki’s been having it rough for the past couple of weeks or so, it was great to see her laugh at the two of us.

Exercise and Elya
Elya has been a great encourager in the implemention of the One-Month Plan. I’ve been good so far. However, it’s still only 5 days so let’s hope I stick to it. (GANBARE! GANBARE!) Other than that, I’ve been getting a lot of compliments from people about my physique. (Although, it’s not that evident in the above pic. Man, I need a new dress shirt that fits me properly.)
It seems to me that I have probably lost weight and tightened some muscles. At first, I thought it must have been a hoax, so for a week I’ve been keeping a close eye at the scale to see any changes and influxes. To my surprise, instead of being at a steady weight of 130-132, I’ve been scaling at 124-126! When I bought clothes I just thought that the size discrepencies were because the clothes are designer specific, however, I am noticing that I’m wearing things at a small-medium instead of just a medium-large. Of course, I still have much to go in the flattening of my abs, but I think my slow and steady pace is very good for me.

So what changes have I made in the past months? Well, kendo for one. I’ve been diligent in going twice a week. My diet and view of portions changed dramatically after 16 days abroad. I’ve been eating smaller, but healthy filling portions in my meals. I’ve added more veggies and fruits in my meals thanks to Elya’s influences. Sure, I’ve eaten veggies regularly before, but her eating habits encourage me to eat more than usual. I’ve also been extra careful to pack a water-bottle with me which dramatically changed my snacking habits. I’m back to being picky about my water again. (Only cold-cold or ice-cold please!) I’ve also been packing my lunch, so I’m in complete control of my food intake. And since the implementation of the One-Month Plan, I’ve started up jogging at 6am. Yay!

No Message from Matty and Matty’s Mom
5 days have passed and neither me nor his mother have heard from the men abroad. Booo! We spent a good deal of Tuesday speculating why we haven’t heard from Matty or his father. Matty’s mom also spent Tuesday watching kendo and now has a good understanding what sword-fighting entails.

I think I should encourage Matty’s mom to finish the little projects she wanted to do while Karin and Matty are away. It could be her own “One-Month Plan”.

Two Emails from Matty!
I got two emails from Matty: one was general and was about the sights and sounds of Europe, the other had a bit of the general one, but had a couple personal comments. Of course, I won’t be posting anything from my private email; instead, I have a couple lines I want to draw your attention to, dear reader.

Matty is a very funny person. To me, he’s very quirky. Sometimes, he doesn’t even know it. Here’s an example why:

So here I am in Firenze (aka Florence) in an Internet cafe after just seeing the David statue. I was shocked at the effect that a single statue can have on you. It is much larger than I had imagined it to be and the detail is incredible.

May be I just have a dirty mind but it seems that David’s pretty large, eh? With incredible detail. Hmm, interesting.

I’ve been introduced to a new fruit this trip as well. Blood Oranges… they are fabulous but it is a bit disconcerting to open up an orange and finding red.

He just gets so wierded out so easily. It’s cute.

I bought you something in Siena, and it was also a failed attempt at bartering.

So, he saw something and the moment he thought of me he thought to barter it. Now, I know some girls may get offended. They would think, “Gah — he’s so cheap. He’s not even thinking of spending a little bit more for me. Hell, he thinks me, he thinks cheap!” etc, etc. I, on the other hand, would have been more impressed if he did manage to get it for a cheaper price. Keep trying honey!

Polly Magoo’s Revamped
I am revamping Polly Magoo’s. It’s my second big attempt at redecorating large sections of the store. Wish me luck. Also, for the next 10 days or so, Sparky and I will be managing the place. Woo! That’s a lot of responsiblity, but I’m sure we can do it.

My Fernie trip pictures are now up! You can check them out here at my flickr site.

The combination of yesterday and today made up a very tiresome long 48 hour day for me. I woke up for school; went to my classes; went to work; got a ride to return snowboard and suitcase; went back to work; worked until close; went to New Asian Village at 8:30pm; left New Asian Village at 10:45pm; rented Dark City; watched Dark City with Matty, Bryce, and Forrest; went to sleep. The following day I woke up at 6am; showered; waited for Matty and his dad to finish getting ready; got a ride to the airport from Matty’s mom and brother; arrived at 8am; said good-byes; got a ride back home at around 9am; ate a quick breakfast; left at 9:30am for work to open the store at 10am; worked until 5pm; went back home, made pasta and showed the movie, Dark City with Inge; and now, I find myself in front of my computer wondering how on earth I got the energy to do all this. The answer?

Adrenaline. Lots of it.

This whole week has been extra squiffy with a side of mush between my Mr. Man and I as we prepare ourselves for our month long separation. We were constantly surrounded with friends (there were 12 of us at New Asian Village!!) and tried to squeeze as much ‘couple time’ as we could. The separation wasn’t sad at all. In fact, it was exciting. I was happy for his trip and I can’t wait until he comes back with stories, souveniers, and pictures.

The night before he left as I dreamt and thought about Matty’s trip, I was rather dramatic and thought I was entitled to do nothing more than sit around moping day after day feeling sorry for myself. After all, the love of my life had fled, life had no meaning, how could I face the future, etcetera etcetera and all those other exaggerated dillusions girls tend to think of in extreme situations.

But after a while, I realized that Matty’s out in the world now, getting nearer and nearer to Rome and France, and what if some beautiful one-legged French prostitute — the one in my dream — caught his fancy while I was here molding in my couch? Or, worse, only his father comes back with a farewell letter from Matty and tells me, “Sorry Ana, but while you moped away into this dreadful lazy slobby unintelligent creature, Matthew decided to live in the Moulin Rouge and has run off with a beautiful French girl who’s always in peak condition and, though one-legged, has a successful dancing career”.

I woke up to the sound of the alarm, pushed snoozed, snuggled up to Matty, and devised “the one month plan”. The One Month Plan, also called “Project Self-Improvement”, will be my attempt to get back my old regular routine of exercise, my attempt to practice diligent time management, and finally finish creative projects I’ve started or dreamt of. I also have little goals like cleaning and emptying my room and closet; not spending money frivolously, etc. It should begin today, but my progress has been terrible due to the lack of proper sleep the past two days. I’m thinking of starting, offically, on Monday.

The “L” Word
WARNING: FULL O’ MUSH
Hollywood has it all wrong. “Love”, the notorious “L” word, is very hard to say. Screw you Hollywood and your romantic movies!! You guys suck at reality!

That being said, the reality is that saying the “L” word and meaning it is a very difficult venture. For me, I value words. Like my sister, I’m sensitive to how people address themselves and express themselves — the words they use, the expressions they say, the meaning they meant, the underlying wit, etc. For example, I rarely use swear words so that I will be able to express their full anger and meaning, when I’m angry and frustrated.

To make a long-story short, Matty and I have said the “L” word to each other; at first, in various forms.

There was the agreement that I indeed like Matty very very very much or that I really really really like him. LIkewise, he would return the sentiment with I really really really like you too. One day he said in a feigned drunken stupor due to apple cider consumption, “Shh, shhh. Ok ok. Ana — I love you man, I love you.” , caught himself and then distracted me with farmer’s market veggies. Then one faithful day, I said that I loooourve him. That’s right, I lurve him. He returned it with the reply, “I lurve you too. Haha.

Then, we actually said it. That’s it. End of story. Stupid Hollywood makes it sound so easy when it’s not. Pfft. Those liars.

Hurrah! There’s a sense of accomplishment in the air as I am proud to annouce that I am back — alive, well, and kicking — from a successfully planned three-day Fernie trip with my two compadres, Mahe and the Bryce.

My arms ache, my back’s sore, and my butt has bruises, but I am alive and somewhat sane.

Bryce and I arrived at the WEM’s meeting spot well ahead of schedule. We sat around until Mahe showed up and then we proceeded to load all of our gear into the bus.

We sat halfway on the bus with the dregs of society. There I encountered my first bit of wildlife of the trip: cougars. These cougars are approximately 40 years old. There were shades of grey amongst the pale reminants of their youth on their hair and coat. They were wild and prowled on the young hot-blooded males. Yuuuck.

These people are like those in the show Dog: The Bounty Hunter. It was scary. It was like a trip to the zoo: us on one side of the fence and us trying to communicate with the hostile beasts through their indifferent and scathing attitude. It was like a zoo.

“Hey, how are you today?” Grunts as reply. “Who do you know here?” Eye shifting, nose flare, then turned around to preen.

We even tried to offer food. Nothing. The only reactions we got was from the drunk cougars who would try to rub themselves against Mahe.

Anyway, the trip there was interesting. But it taught us one important thing: Stay away from the back of the bus. Stay in the front where drafts of the bathroom reminants are filtered.

We arrived at Fernie at the wee hours of the morning. We slept for a solid 4-5 hours. We woke at 7am, showered, munched on granola bars and then headed off to the bus for the hill.

Fernie is a beautiful mountain. The weather was fantastic. It was bright. The snow was nicely groomed and gleaming. I was ready to board: I had my red Sarge hoodie, my snow jacket, googles, neck warmer, snow pants, and ear muffs. I slung the snowboard across my back — I looked like a badass snowboarder.

Too bad I can’t snowboard like one.

I fell almost everytime I got off the chairlift. I mastered getting on; getting off was a problem. I am also a master of the “pendalum method” of snowboarding. It also called, “Ana cannot toe or carve”. I was doing alright. In fact, I was doing better in the second day. I managed to NOT fall off the chairlift for a total of FOUR TIMES between two days. FOUR TIMES. Once on Saturday and three on Sunday.

Marc snowboarded with me to ease the pain off his injured right foot. (He’s a trooper!) He gave me tips along the way and was kind enough to go to easier trails with me. Bryce stuck around with us for 80% of the time. Other than that, Zippy (the nickname we gave Bryce for the trip) zipped down black diamonds. (We even saw him zip down the hill when Mahe and I were going up the chairlift!)

Sunday was a nice relaxing day for Mahe and I who spent most of our time with hot chocolates with Frangelico liquor in the ski lodge exchanging stories. (He’s in lurve as well!) Zippy was on the ski hill. After a nice relaxing morning, Mahe and I went back on the hill to take some pictures with WICKET the EWOK. Wicket made things cute and fun for all.

Now, I am back. I’m doing a load of laundry and detoxing myself from the greasy food by eating a lot of salad and fruit. It was a fun relaxing weekend and I couldn’t have spent it better without Mahe or Bryce.

Pictures will come when Mahe and Bryce send them to me.

Domain Name
I am really liking wednesdaypineapples. My sister disagrees, but if it comes down to it, I may just invest in my own. Haha. Or Orange days. I actually like the term orange days. Good ole Japanese dramas. Hmm. Pineappledays … ?
Lurve
I am in lurve. I am falling in lurve with my Mr. Man. Haha. (If you don’t get it, it’s ok. Sort of a private joke and sort of not.)

The domain ’savagemuse’ will be expiring soon.  I do not really want to renew it, so please help me think of another cool domain and it shall be the new domain for my site.  ‘Savagemuse’ was the creation of my sister’s and I don’t think it describes me.  So, if you have any suggestions, please put them in the comments.

Hmm … ? nyanya? kokeshi? ninjahouse? unfamiliarceiling? journalscribble? semicharmed? nana? cheeseontoast?

Too Much Jacket Potato Man
Being sick has one big advantage: it curbs your hunger and narrows your appetite.  I can only eat very small portions of things now.  Jacket Potato Man in HUB is a very good little place for chicken salads.  However, I met up with Inge and Greg which only lead to one thing: too much food.  I ordered half a salad and half a portion of the beef stew on rice.  I should have known from the price that it was too much food, but I didn’t realize it until I saw an extra large styrofoam box in front of me filled to the brim.

Ugh. As expected I ate barely a fourth of it.  Then I saw Bea and tried to pass off the food to her.  She wouldn’t take it.

In the end, my boss took it and then gave it to some homeless guy on the Avenue who was more than glad to get food, regardless if it came from a recently sick bronchitis-infected girl.

FERNIE!!
I bought a new pair of thermal capris for the Fernie trip.  YAY!  It’ll just be me, Bryce and Mahe, and the mountain air.  Tonight, after I hang out with Kim, I’ll be packing for Fernie.

The toughest part is deciding what to bring and what to wear.  What to wear will be decided to night as I go through an array of sweaters, jeans, and hoodies.  What to bring as in food, will be decided tomorrow when I check out Safeway.  I see a lot of fruit in baggies in the future.

Tomorrow, I’ll be in Fernie and won’t be back until Sunday midnight.  Three days without Matty means Wicket is off to another fun-filled trip.  I need to get a disposable camera for this.

Kendo Noob-no-longer
I still consider myself a novice in kendo.  However, there’s a new batch of noobies for the sempai and sensei to pick on.  It’ll be great.  There’s no one that looks like they are in my age so that sort of sucks, but oh well.  I’m slowly getting to know everyone in kendo.

I can’t wait until the May Seminar.  A day or so with teachers around Canada.  Eek!  I’m so excited.  They will teach me plenty.

Matty’s Trip
Matty is off to Italy soon.  He’ll be gone in 9-10 days.  Oooooooh.