Get back in line you miserable peons before I have you all shipped off to some slave colony in the south!

Alright, alright. So, I haven’t posted at all since returning from the cottage. I am a sinful deviant, and I should be punished. It isn’t entirely my fault though. I must confess that - since returning from the cottage - I have either spent every waking hour with Sam or at work, with non-waking hours usually spent with Sam. So, I’ve been busy.

I can’t delve into details of the past week or so, because that would be just inappropriate of me. All that I can say is that I’ve had a good time, and I’m sorry to have disappointed you with the lack of postage. To make ammends, let me bring you:

THE WEEK IN BRIEF

Friday, July 21, 2006 Driving in our van, Jake, Adriana and myself arrived home after a week at the cottage, during which I was lonely and missing Sam immensely. I phoned Sam as soon as we arrived home (around 8:30) and got the answering machine. I left a message for her to call me back. Around 9:30, she did. She’d been working that night, and hadn’t expected me to be back until the early hours of the morning. We got together and began to watch Spirited Away, but we dozed off during the scene with Chihiro applying for a job with Kamaji - the boiler man. The music that plays while the soot brings coal to the furnace was like a lullaby. Saturday, July 22, 2006

Sam spent the night at my house and we spent a bit of the morning together. I dropped her off at her house so she could have a shower and then I picked her up later so that we could go to work. We worked the regular Saturday shift, the ungodly 3-9 where nothing happens, and then we went home. Or rather, we went to Video Plus Books to rent another anime film, which is where we bumped into Liam, Blake, and some anime-loving acquaintance of the two who looked a bit like Michael Chiklis. In the end, we rented Howl’s Moving Castle and I was able to confirm that Blake was - indeed - still alive and well. We went to Sobey’s and picked up some food. Humus and pita bread. Chips and dip. We went home and watched Spirited Away - in full - and started Howl’s Moving Castle, but sleep took over and we began to doze off. Sunday, July 23, 2006

Sam spent the night at my house again, and we both got up to go to work for 10 in the morning (such an evil shift!) So, we worked on Sunday from 10 o’clock until 5 o’clock and then, we went to the baseball games. We played twice. Once against Wendy’s and again against IGA. At least, I think that is who we were playing. It may have been Tim Hortons. The point is, we played. We lost. As usual. So, Sam and I hurriedly left the game and went to Kelsey’s for dinner. Then, we went back to my place where we watched Howl’s Moving Castle’s conclusion (which I fell asleep during and - to this day - I have not finished watching the movie). It was at this point - I believe - that Sam went home…if memory serves, she worked the next day at 9.

Monday, July 24, 2006

I’d intended to go to Waterloo on this day to purchase textbooks and get my WATCARD, as well as to get a feel for my classes location on campus relative to eachother and my residence (North Three in Village One). However, after looking up the texts on the campus bookstore, I found that the “pickin’s” were insubstantial. That is to say, not a lot of professors had searchable book lists. So, under the advice of one Binks Binkle, I decided to wait until closer to the move in date to purchase books. I got the van for the evening, and dropped off my residence contract at the couriers before visiting EB Games for a quick stop-and-shop, whereupon I found the Gamecube Collector’s Edition Zelda disc which has the original Legend of Zelda (NES), Zelda II: Link’s Adventure (NES), The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64). I’ve been craving this disc because I was unable to get one (Fraser got three when they were released, by extorting every promotional offer available). I needed to have this disc because I absolutely loved Majora’s Mask but I did not have a copy on my N64. Now, I do. Hurray. That night, I played Gamecube for a short while as I waited for Sam to call me when she returned from work. Apparently, she’d agreed to go out to coffee with Katie, so we only got together later that night. Still, good times.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Today - if memory serves - I worked the morning shift. Due to a co-worker’s ill mother, I was picking up shifts like nobodies business. So, Tuesday morning found me working 9:00 - 4:30. Most of the day was spent putting out new stock (movies) and dealing with a representative from our movie distributor. We pulled enough movies off the shelf to fill three shopping cards, and pegged them to be returned. Hopefully, we can now get in some good films instead of $3.99 box sets of obscure films from the 1970s. Sam took over Home Entertainment at 4:30 (meaning I couldn’t do anything with her after work). So, I just waited until Molly Bloom’s time rolled about, and went to the pub to hang out with the guys (and Binks’ girlfriend).

As an aside, I’d like to see the number of girls appearing at guys night be reduced to zero. In the case of Binks, I understand that he sees his girlfriend once in a decade and didn’t want to pass up both time with friends and time with the girl, but “Guy’s Night” is a night for the guys, where we can act like guys without looking like asses in front of the girls. But seriously, no more girlfriends/female co-workers/attractive female cousins/etc. should be coming to Molly Bloom’s on Tuesday night.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Sam and I worked from 9:00 until 1:30 today, and we’d made arrangements to spent the day together before going to see An Inconvenient Truth at a theatre in London. It was Rainbow Cinemas in that big mall that they have downtown, a few blocks from the John Labatt Centre. The Gardenia? Grandia IV? Galactia? Galleria! That’s what it was.

Sam had also wanted to go shopping for a birthday gift for her friend, Catherine, but all the shops in the Galleria were closed. We had a lot of time to kill before the film at 9:30, so we wandered around the mall, contemplated making out in the men’s room behind the cinemas, went to Crabby Joe’s for dinner, before finally wandering around the downtown core. However, once we were a few blocks from the Galleria, the sky ripped open and we were caught in one hell of a downpour.

We walked through a few buildings in order to get back to the parking lot, and we hid in the car for a moment. I drove the car as close to the Galleria as possible, and we got out and ran inside. We did our best to dry off, and then went and purchased our tickets for Al Gore’s documentary.

As an aside, it was surprisingly good. Unfortunately, the film did not stress statistics as heavily as it could have - although global warming is evident in the world quite obviously. Instead, the movie tugged at the more sentimental effects of global warming, pointing out all the things that would have to change and - in essence - attacking your heart and the morality of the issue rather than the direct science. The biggest drawback of the film is that it leaves the viewer with no suggestions for grand solutions, but merely the tired repetition of ideas to slow the inevitable. Use energy efficient appliances. Take public transit. Carpool. Try not to use as much hot water. Etc. ** Thursday, July 27, 2006

Sam and I worked 3-9. I went over to her house and spent the night there. We stayed up late and played Fifa Soccer ‘05 on her PS2. Friday, July 28, 2006**

I didn’t do much today. Sam worked from 9-3 and I worked from 3-9, ultimately preventing us from doing anything during the day. After work, she agreed to go out with Katie, which was alright because I was freaking tired. On the way home from work, my tire had exploded on my bike and I had to walk most of the way home. We’d discover a screw in it on Saturday morning. So, Friday night, I fell asleep on the couch.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

I worked from 8:00 until 4:00 today. Again, a shift because my co-worker’s mother is ill. I was supposed to work 8:00 until 3:00, but Virginia - being the genius that she is - didn’t schedule anyone to replace me from 3:00 until 9:00. She seemed to assume that - after moving me from the afternoon shift to the morning shift, that everything would magically repair itself. So, Roy asked me to stay on for an extra hour, at which point I would be replaced by my amiga, Rachel. And, so it was. I stayed there to purchase stuff, and had lunch with Sam. Then I went home. We got together Saturday night, and I spent the night at her house. Sunday, July 30, 2006

We woke up at her house, and were a little late for work. None of the clocks in her house were right. Oh well. We got teased by a lot of the staff, asking why we were late.

We worked through the day at a sluggishly slow pace, and then we broke our promises to go to baseball, and instead went back to her house. We hung out for a bit, went out for dinner, and then we drove to Grand Bend for a romantic walk on the beach at night. I also went skinny dipping for the first time in my life. It was interesting. We got back to her house after 2:00 AM, at which point I had my first experience with marijuana. Sam and I had a fight about whether marijuana was worth it or not. I said it was stupid because it didn’t do anything. She said I couldn’t have a valid opinion until I tried it.

So, I sacrificed everything that I stand for and smoked two joints with her. It was stupid. The weed didn’t do anything. The only thing it did was make my mouth taste like an ashtray. So, if you intend to smoke weed, I recommend against it. Drinking is a much better and faster way to get a buzz, or to lose touch with the world. Weed just blows.

Monday, July 31, 2006

I’m going to be hanging out with Sam tonight. I question what kind of a person I am, considering I sacrificed my principles so readily…

…

There you have it. My past week.

Satisfied now?