a quick synopsis of the madness that ensued today... and then some

so yeah, to bring y'all up to speed.... i've been staying at my friend taeko's place the past two days or so... i've had a great time. i got to visit the wild bird clinic where she volunteers and see birds that i'd otherwise prolly never see so close up... turkey vultures, peregine falcons, redtailed hawks, great horned owls, etc.... it was really cool. i saw an one-winged turkey vulture eat a chicken head (not off a live chicken), but it was interesting nonetheless. and I got to go to carden st. cafe, with some peeps, and good food was in store. the girls dragged the guys shopping afterwards, and i actually saw this really cool toque that i'm gonna get when the sales come on after the holidays... it's a olivegreenish toque with a blue race car shooting flames out the muffler. tres cool.
but yeah, then went to chapters to drool over some more books, and wandered the mall, but saw nothing of interest. then we rented the movie canadian bacon, which is a comedy about the US invading canada, for reasons that i don't really understand, since we both fell asleep during the movie. it wasn't a bad movie... we were just both really tired. and i made thai green curry with chicken for dinner... that was good, even though I fucked up with the proportions royally... it worked out in the end though, so it's all good.
anyways, yeah... me bad... I didn't end up sleeping... I was helping taeko get her place in order and just keeping her company, cuz i felt bad for her running around like a chicken with its head cut off all night long by herself,...so i helped her with stuff... but around 4:30ish, i decided to take a short nap, so yeah, i woke up at like 5:45...

Taeko was running around madly, and she got the rest of the food in the fridge all prepped for cooking... We were trying to use up all the food in the fridge so that we wouldn't have to waste any, and i helped in making an omlette... and she was running around, stressing out. and we had to finish washing the dishes, throw out the garbage and getting things ready... (clean her turtle filter, etc...), and we gobbled down the food faster than humanly possible, and the red car to pick us up at 6:15 to bring us to the airport hadn't showed up by 6:20, so we were getting a bit antsy.

but eventually it did, and we were all running around madly at this point, making sure we had everything we needed... passports, wallets, luggage, socks, gloves, etc.. and then we got on the bus and was able to relax for a little bit.

Then we got to the check in at the airport terminal, and there were billions of ppl milling around, so we were gonna get into line and get our stuff checked in first, and then i was gonna meet her halfway between our check in counters, before we went our seperate ways (me --> vancouver, her --> san fran-->shanghai... so she left on my cart a package she was gonna send her friend in france, at the airport, mostly cuz her hands were mostly full.

So i went to check in... i snuck past the lines cuz i had express check in... so i didn't have to line up for like 5 weeks... but then my carry-on was overweight, and the kendo sword was a bit of an issue... so i had to rearrange... and that was such a pain to figure out, but eventually i did, but just barely, cuz i had to really sit on my suitcase to close it, and my carry-on duffel bag was cutting it really close... (8.7kg out of a possible 10kg).

so i went to find taeko... this was a at around 8:15 or so... she was stopping in san fran, so i think she had to go through US Customs which is ALWAYS a pain in the arse, and her flight was at 9:30... so I think she either forgot about the package, or just had to rush to make her flight.... but i never did end up finding her... i waited around until like 8:30 or so looking for her around the meeting place.. but no dice.

so now i was stuck with an extra package in a la senza bag (which a lot of ppl poked fun at me for)... Taeko's xmas package for her friend... I was gonna send it at the airport for her, but there was no post office there... just a mailbox., but there was no postage on it yet, and i had none either. Also it wasn't even taped closed, so that was a no-go too. I ended up going through security at like 8:40 or so... and yeah... so i had her package that i'm gonna send off for her tommorow... but i went through without any problems... so my flight was boarding at 10:40, so i had like 1.5 hrs to kill... in retrospect, it wouldn't have hurted to stuck around the check in area for another while, just to look for her... but it was a crazy place, and I had no desire to sit around there when taeko had most probably left.

so yeah... i spent $3 on the stoopid internet kiosk to leave her the news about her package, and to like thank her for having me at her place an stuff, since i didn't get to say goodbye.,... and the internet kiosk had the worst keyboard ever... damn, i shoulda takena picture of it... hehehe but it sucked ass, and a very uncomfy seat. gah.. i highly do NOT recommend using that shite.
After that I was walking past the mini-arcade near the departure gate, and seeing there were credits in the golden tee game, so i put another quarter in, and played 2 holes. I blew goats (aka sucked ass), but it was all good. I read my... er.. Katie's book Neutral Buoyancy until the plane started boarding ppl, so that was good, since it was a good book!

Eventually i boarded, and i got a window seat (12F, right in front of the wing), and nobody directly beside me... the seat beside that one say some guy who worked with computers, and was actually from guelph, having like lived there for like 26 yrs or something... it was bizarre...
and fuck, the steward dudes gave me a rough time when i first got on the bus about my carry-on luggage... cuz i had 3 pieces of luggage (2 was the supposed maximum), and one of the pieces of luggage was REALLY big.

but it went uneventfully after that, thank god... and then i gained some kinda of calmness in my day... reading my book, listening to ben harper, and writing in my journal.

So yeah, I touched down in vancouver with no problems, and then I went for lunch with faaahmuly, and then test-drove some cars(I just slept), and then we went for sushi at Kamei on broadway... Good times. I ate tons, and it was great! And now, I'm all comfy after my shower, just doing some laundry before I go to bed. My hands are severely dry, but other than that, I'm a happy boy. can't wait to snuggle into bed for the night. Would be nice if I had a certain warm body to snuggle with though.... *sigh*
anyways, you better be ready, vancouver,
this boy is planning to rock out!
woohoo!
nightnight!