I. blur

Just like this, the summer is winding down to a close... a flurry of light, and then it all begins to fade. The vivid images of summer are already beginning to disintegrate in the shallow depths of my memory.So before they do, let me try to remember them and put them down for posterity. Sometimes it turns out kinda funny, like dreams you have and write down in asemi-conscious state. Weeks later, you'll read it and be unsure of whetherthose strange thoughts had come from your mind.

Katie came to visit me in Vancouver for 6 days, and it was so incredibly niceseeing her, after having NOT seen her, for close to 4 months. Feeling her handin mine, and having her warmth with me throughout the day really made me sohappy, and having her get a proper chance to meet and be with my friends wasreally great, as both my friends and katie seemed to get a lot out of meetingeach other. I could go and describe everywhere that we went, but really, itdidn't matter so much to me... Just getting the chance to be with her, whethersitting by a creek in stanley park looking at fish, or going to the comic bookshop, it was just perfect, to be with her. Even while I got a speeding ticketon the way home from picking her up at Seattle, I somehow felt alright, as Iheld her delicate hands with a sheepish smile on my face.

I really couldn't believe how fast time seemed to fly. It seemed that even while we were taking it kiinda of slow, there were still so many people to see, and everything. We went out for a fancy dinner one night, and we hung out with some guelphies that had made it out to vancouver for their geography field camp, and it was like MAD clash of the worlds. the worlds of joming and joming colliding!!! Whoa!! it was good though. Even though people seemed kinda wiped from their respective long days, they seemed in good company.

II. perfect
And another day, we went scuba diving together. It seemed like it was so long in waiting.. Finally getting a glimpse into a side of Katie I'd never really glimpsed before, seeing as we're both in the terrific but landlocked Guelph 8 months of the year. Although I'd seen her dive before, from ice diving in Presque Isle, where I saw her descend beneath the ice through a hole, and then followed her bubbles and her dive light on top of the ice to stomp on the ice above her, and although I'd had just finished my dive lessons diving with some random peoples, I'd never had the chance to dive with the one I loved. And surely, it was a big improvement of my 1st dive outside my certification dives, where I was disoriented, lost, and yes, even a bit scared, amidst the darkness without a light and barely able to see my buddy, and just trying to keep up with the glimmer of the dive light of the other dive pair. Once again, I felt safe with her, as I always do. Even without the ability to speak to each other in words, I still felt connected to her. I couldn't some crack corny jokes, however, but despite that I think Katie lived.. hehe. It was a pretty adventure packed dive though... We saw a lion's mane jellyfish... the stingy tentacle kind... SQUISHY!! and I supposedly saved Katie's life from it.. teehee. As well, we saw an octopus chilling out in a hole, with the poor devoured husks of some unfortunate crabs strewn about. I think we were both tempted to poke it out of its hiding place, but we decided that it would just be plain mean. But one of the best moments of the dive was when we were both looking at each other at some point, and I saw her smile at me. Just a very happy smile, one of those where you could also see it in the eyes. And I just couldn't resist smiling as well, and it was just such a perfect moment, even when our masks flooded with water because smiling made openings in the mask seal around our face. Maybe it even made it more of a perfect moment, if it exists.
That's just one of the things I enjoy about being Katie... Just being able to be myself, and enjoy the small things in life that I often miss. Despite the pouring rain, it was a great time driving to Sea-Tac airport. Just being able to laugh about the stupidest things, like a street called Chuckanut Drive, and about dropping my cell phone in the slurried remains of a DQ blizzard. What more can I ask for, honestly? :)

III. chaos
And after she went through the gates, I drove back to vancouver with not quite all of my heart, it seems. My car already seemed so empty, like something was definitely missing, and for a while I was singing my lungs out to the CDs I had brought, but I then realized that it wasn't what was needed, and I turned it off, to listen to the rain falling on the windshield and the hum of the tires on the pavement, and somehow it made me feel better.
The 4 days that followed were a thing of madness and franticness. There's no time like back to school time where things get crazy with trying to pack, getting all my shit together to go away for another 4 months to what seems almost like another world altogether and trying to fit in spending quality time with the people I hadn't seen enough all summer, even though we did see each other. Somehow though, it can be the time when you do end up spending the best time with people, in terms of being able to have a good long conversation with them, and having your minds on the same page. Really, it's something nice.

IV. and away over yonder
Now I've chilling out in Ottawa for a day or so at my dad's friend's house. It was weird seeing them not as just my father and his friend, but simply as old high school friends getting together... 30-40 years later, both with families, houses, a career, children, and maybe even grandchildren. It really does make you think what will happen then, and seeing black and white pictures of them around my age, and seeing them now just really strikes the point home.I met up with Christina, a fellow Guelphy from Ottawa that just happened to be 15 minutes away when I gave her a ring on her mom's cell. It was really nice to see her again, and to just walk around the beautiful city of Ottawa ... I could really see myself enjoying that place, with its very cute market, and bilingualism and all. It just seemed very fun... But yeah, we walked along the streets of Downtown Ottawa and crossed the bridge into Hull and we talked about stuff, the future, memories, friends and all that. Then and we sat on the porch of a property her parents owned (not her house), and we talked about how almost a 1/3 of my life has been lived (a 1/4 if i'm lucky), and later on about funerals, and how if I died, how my family would contact all the people I knew that I would have liked to come, seeing as they've never met the majority of them. Morbid? Yes... But really, what would happen? Would someone try to contact me years later, only to find that I died a few years back?

feeling: thoughtful
listening: the LOUD hum of the computer