Another year of fireworks have come and gone… with a bang (pun intended). Alina and Dan and their little boy, Kevin, came over to watch the grand finale, but, as always, there was a lot of conversation so I don’t know how much of the actual show was observed! They brought some lovely flowers for me, too!

lovely flowers from Alina 

Eliza tried to come over, too, with four friends, but I didn’t hear either of the phones ring because of the music!

OK, I did something rather impulsive earlier today… I spent the afternoon surfing around for cheap flights to visit Serg and Christopher in Ottawa, but I couldn’t seem to find any flights under $500+taxes, and the availability was zilch, or there were way too many connections. If I had loads of time I wouldn’t care about connections, but I am always short on time!! So, I’ve got a 24-hour hold on a flight to San Francisco, for $212 plus taxes! ($300 total) I just have to get a hold of Tyrone to see if he’s coming and when… where is he?!?

I also booked myself in tentatively for the new downtown SFO hostel, which must’ve only opened up within the past year, because there were only two when I was in San Francisco last year in May. But I’ve since found a site called Globalfreeloaders.com, which is a be-a-guest/be-a-host free service. I think I’ll try it. I sent off an e-mail to a guy who lives on a 40-ft houseboat. We’ll see if he responds!

Meanwhile, I must mention this band I was unable to go to see called Pink Martini, because of exams… they’re from Portland, Oregon, and they’ve only released one CD, but they’ve done a lot of soundtracks and such. Here’s a link to a Quicktime movie of their video for “Sympathique”. Great song!!

How’s this for WACKY: guess who I found in IMDB (Internet Movie Database)?? None other than Adolf Hitler. My, my, my, has Adolf ever been busy! Check out his filmography! If you are into films, this is a great database. I’ve used it extensively for the past couple of years or so — an excellent resource, especially for those trivia games or heated party debates over what actor was in what film. The trivia sections alone are engaging reading.

Back from a late-night dinner with Nancy, on the sidewalk by Bin 941. Reminds me why I live in the City of Vancouver — so I can eat any time of the day or night, even if I have to sip my Wolf Blass merlot out of a mug while telling a bum to bugger off and no, I don’t want to give him change.

I’ve signed up for two courses in September thus far, one is: Philosophy 231: The Meaning of Life

How can you pass up a course like that?? I am happy to read the course consists of an “early quiz”, then 3 short papers worth 20% each, and a final exam worth 30%. I’m so glad to be back in paper territory… I’m sick of exams. I had three exams in LING 100 — the last one was on Tuesday, and no papers. I also had 3 exams for Archaeology 200, which was also a nightmare.

The second class I’m taking so far is the one I started to take this term but had to withdraw from: Linguistics 110: The Wonder of Words, which is basically about how words have changed over time. I think it will be much better this time around.

Oh thank god it’s all over. My hand feels like it’s going to fall off. Not only did I run out of ink partway through, but I ran out of time. But I answered as much as I could, and I got an A- on my paper about the film “Strawberry and Chocolate”, which is less (by percentage) than I thought I would get, but that keeps my record alive for only dipping below an A- once on a paper — and that was the first one, in Moral Philosophy (B+). I think that first paper took a year off my life. It was torture. But since then it’s been a good run of A’s. Which is no mean feat, all things considered, especially since I always write them the night before they’re due.

My brain is now officially free from burden! What do I do with it now?!?

oooh, just a few more hours and my brain will be F-R-E-E…

I really do. It’s been all work and no play lately for Gail.

One thing I can look forward to is Molly Dieno’s surprise birthday party in Kamloops on the 17th, which means I’ll at least get a road trip in before the end of the month. The only thing I need to think of is what kind of gag gift I can get, and what kind of real gift.

My hand’s still sore from writing, but I’m glad that’s all over. LING 100 is finished, so now I just wait for my score… one down, one to go. Latin American Studies will be a big exam, so I’d better get cracking.

A Loving Spoonful’s float won the prize for the Best Overall and Best Community Float!

Pride Parade float 

Spent pretty much all day yesterday studying. I didn’t even leave the apartment! That is so pathetic!

The weather is really piss-poor right now (as Jerome would say), but today was very full and lots of f-u-n… well, except for the really boring batch of photocopying I had to do up at SFU.

Melissa and I spent a few hours at the Greater Vancouver Zoo, which used to be called the Vancouver Game Farm when I lived in Aldergrove from ages 13-17. I only went for the first time last year in the spring, when I took Melissa and Michael by myself. I don’t think any self-respecting high school student at FVAA would be caught dead actually going to the Vancouver Game Farm. I think it’s changed a lot over the years, though, re-branding itself as the Greater Vancouver Zoo and adding more animals. And I’m sure it totally takes people by surprise when they first discover it’s an hour’s drive out of Vancouver.

OK, next time I am NOT going to leave the house without my watch. Melissa and I waited nearly an hour to take the Zoo train, and then when I asked someone what the time was, she told me it was 3:30, so we started to head for the station, which was less than 100m away. When we got there, the train was about to leave! It turned out to be 3:45, and our train was due to leave at 3:40! I was really disappointed, especially for Melissa, who had waited all that time and was also disappointed to see it pulling away from the station without us. So we spent the next hour looking at the animals in the immediate vicinity of the train station, because I was determined not to miss the 4:40 train. We were early in the lineup, which was fortuitous since there were people who didn’t make it on the train.

Melissa waiting for the Zoo train. 

One of the advantages of taking the train versus walking around the Zoo is the proximity of viewing for the hippo habitat. Melissa got a little freaked out when the giraffe walked right towards our raised platform and was at eye-level. The area below the railing for the platform is plexi-glass (or was it glass??), so to a small child it must be very scary to have such a big animal come straight at you.

Mr. Giraffe