The pros & cons of a week spent in purgatory...

Last week was Reading Week, so I decided to go on a trip to sunny Flori... Saskatchewan. My dog and I headed out to Regina late Monday night. It was cold and blustery and my windshield kept freezing over. There were a lot of semis and SUVs in the ditch, but by some act of providence, me, my, dog, and my little blue truck made it. (Glory, glory hallelujah. That truck will last me until the day I die.) The good thing about driving in crappy road conditions is that you're so paranoid that you might roll out that you never fall asleep. I was wired the whole time. I got home at about 3:30am, putzed around my mum's house for awhile, then crawled into bed.

The purpose of my trip home was to pack up all of my remaining shit so she can get the house into tip top selling shape. You would think the fact that I had been moved out for 7 years may have reduced the amount of stuff I had to comb through, but it surely did not. My mum keeps everything. The first day of sorting was actually pretty fun - going through all my kid stuff - toys and artwork from elementary school. Day two was just depressing. High school was not a time I would especially like to recapture in my life. Ugh. I certainly made a mess of things then, didn't I?! The only thing I really got a kick out of going through from then was all of my English notes. Judging from my poetry study notes, I was obviously way ahead of my class. (Natch.) Found written in several margins: "It's about SEX." Or "He was in love with a MAN." I don't know why they bothered teaching these poems if they were too puritanical to discuss what they were actually about. (Lutheran private school - go figure.)

The highlight of my trip was going out for lunch with my extremely talented and beautiful friend Jenn, who I hadn't seen since high school. (Approximately around the same time that I decided that smoking up before class was a good lifestyle choice.) Anyhoo... Jenn is true blue and gosh darn it! I just missed her so much! So I'm glad we had a chance to catch up. (I will try not to fall behind again. Unless of course, I am stuck on a ladder. In that case, someone will have to "talk me down!")

Alex (the real hypochondriac in the family) drove back to Calgary with me and the doggy. We had big plans to go snowboarding, but ultimately ended up sitting around all weekend - which was not necessarily a bad thing. (Because now there is a rat living in one of my lungs and if I hadn't gotten some sleep, it may have procreated and then I'd really be in a pickle.) It was a hoot having Alex around even though she claimed that IKEA was "burning her eyes" and her refusing to bond with Jazz the Amazing Wonder Weiner Dog. I missed my sister, it was good to have her back.

I should go study up on my German now - I have a job interview with Air Canada and apparently Grade 12 German means "fluent" to their H.R. people. I must also remember to hook up my IV bag full of Buckley's cough syrup. That rat must die!