Corner of Bourbon & Division

Two hours of snowshoeing yesterday and I am wrecked. Had a great time with luvenditti and fearsclave. The Wuh-Mun wasn't home from her trip yet, and I was sad to have missed her, but her sistern Karen was visiting with her two Siamese cats (they're a mix of chocolate flame point and, erm, I forget the other), so I bonded with all three. 'Twas very pleasant. We wandered out on snowshoes, went by the beaver dam and an abandoned farmhouse, and re-visited Mark's Island, where fearsclave and I built a lean-to two years ago (that's where the photo was taken that I used for this icon). The lean-to is still there, although a little the worse for wear since it hasn't really been maintained.

One nifty thing about the snow is that you can see animal tracks remarkably well. We saw turkey and rabbit tracks, and an owl strike which was very impressive, as well as deer and the Elusive Canadian Snow Hamster (ask fearsclave to show you the picture he took). At one point we scared an entire flock of turkeys out of a field and into the woods. Wild turkeys are very pretty indeed.

I caught a quick glimpse of wultabat and looking4wings while I was at the Fearsranch, but it turned out that we couldn't spend much time together. Next time. :)

There was snowshoeing, and Tim Horton's doughnuts (they don't heap disgusting amounts of glaze on their doughnuts in Ontario, it's very exciting), and then we went to the pizzeria in Alexandria for lunch. Good times. :)

When luvenditti and I returned to Montreal we stopped by my place so I could get dry socks (turns out my Magnums are no longer waterproof at all, so I shall have to buy something to seal them with again) and my citified boots, and then we wandered off to the movies.

The Queen, which was my first choice, was sold out. So we went to see Because I Said So instead. Umm, it was bad. Diane Keaton is a fabulous actress, but not even she could save the movie. For one thing, they gave her terrible, terrible lines to work with. Mandy Moore was, well, Mandy Moore. Girl couldn't act her way out of a wet paper bag, and all she does is wander around looking pouty and smug. It's too bad, because if the writing hadn't been so crappy, it might have been an entertaining movie. Instead, I spent a lot of time wishing the characters would shut up.

Now I am going to have coffee, and head out to my game. Overslept this morning, again. *sigh*

Hokay. This weekend was jam-packed with stuff and things and action, so I think I ought to record it for posterity.

:::ETA:::

Holy shit this got long. Cut-tagging now for your convenience.

:::/ETA:::

( Friday )

( Saturday Morning )

( Saturday Afternoon and Evening )

( 'It's the Sunday morning after...' )

And that's it for this entry. I think I shall make a separate one about 24 so that it doesn't get lost in all the verbiage.

I forgot my heart necklace at home today. I feel oddly naked without it. It's the first time in a year and a half that I haven't worn it (except briefly this summer when I thought I was going camping and decided it would be a bad plan to bring along a crystal pendant).

I keep reaching to fiddle with it, and it's not there. Most disconcerting.

I want to be outside in the snow. With snowshoes on. And maybe a camera.

Attended the service for Aunt Molly yesterday, meeting her whole family for the first and presumably last time. I told my mother that if I die before she does, she's responsible for not letting the priest officiating spout inanities at great length. Aunt Molly was dignified, charming, elegant and witty. She would have been hard-pressed to hide her exasperation had she heard what the minister was dribbling on about during the sermon.

The readings were well chosen, and her two grandsons were obviously very attached to her. You could tell by the way they spoke of her. Apart from the minister, the service was really very well done.

I stayed for a little bit afterward, but since there were few people I knew, I eventually made a discreet exit.

I decided to go fetch my computer away from the nice Mac people who'd helped me thus far, and brought it to my father at the university so he could take it to the place that's actually covered by the university's insurance. I don't really like them because they're sort of incompetent (last time they "fixed" my computer I had to reformat most of their work myself once I got the computer back and the words "please make sure my software is in English" seem to make no sense to them, even in French).

My father took the computer in for repairs today, and called me at work to tell me that the little men at his office say the computer has nothing wrong with it. Ummm, no. The logic card is fried. I explained this already, and have a little paper that says so. "But it boots up!" the little man said. Umm, yes. That's normal. The only reason it wouldn't boot up is if it has an issue with the hard drive, and that isn't the case. It's the logic card.

:::headdesk:::

Anyway, I put on my stubborn hat, and they're going to take another look at it.


In car news, I finally have all my stuff straightened out. The insurance will pay for the damage to the other woman's car, and that's that. It took a while to convince her that no, I was not going to pay $800 for her car to be fixed if her insurance company will do it for me. Also, my own insurance people told me that while *my* premiums might go up if I decided to get the minor cosmetic damage to the side of my car fixed, hers would not. I caused the accident, so the no fault laws come into effect. It all works out.

November is bleeding into December here, and I am unthrilled. There's also very little snow, and it's cold. I like the cold, but only if it's accompanied by snow. No snow means no snowshoeing, and I'm frustrated.

There's any number of small things happening right now which normally wouldn't phase me, but coming all together and on top of the other stressy things happening, they're all striving more or less successfully to shove me right over the edge. I have lots of people to see over the next few days, and I think that it may take all of my self-control not to turn into a snarling, slavering bitch.

Tonight I'm definitely going to bed early.