For all those who saw the post that was previously here, please ignore it. I was very frustrated and angry and I fear that I may have hurt one of my best friend's feelings by posting it. I did not mean to hurt anyone, but I just felt so wronged myself that I did not think straight. I hereby sincerely regret the previous post and hope that all who have read it will hereby ignore it. Thank you.

P.S. Anger and sadness can make you do stupid things sometimes... I am really sorry.

In which Montreal weather has gone haywire

The weather has been really terrible of late. A few days ago, the weather was crisp and cold like the end of October. The air you breathed felt solid, it was so crisp. Yesterday, the day was as dull and gloomy like the worst of mid-January (minus the snow and the horrible minus degrees...). Today, the weather is as unpleasant and soggy as a riverbank in March. Yuck.

If someone is still doubting global warming, I think we have definite proof of it now. And for those who say "it's not really 'warming,'" there is still a really weird weather change going on. So please start working on some change! The weather makes me sick! Literally!

I mean, with all the odd weather changes of late, I am not at all surprised that I have caught such a nasty (nasty, NASTY) cold. In all truth, I have caught a man-cold. This is Michael's fault. He had it first. And he really DOES catch man colds. And he just HAD to kiss me while he had said man-cold... *grumble grumble grumble* I hate being sick. I feel really ick. I am currently covered in cold sweat and my voice sounds like that of someone who has been chain-smoking for the past 50 years. Oh, and I look absolutely gorgeous with a red-rimmed nose from all the sniffling and nose-blowing; pasty skin; and really puffy dark circles under my eyes... Sexy!

*Sigh* I actually do not have much more to say. I just felt like complaining about the weather. Partially because the weather is really crappy and because my class is just THAT dull (yes, I am in class).

Tonight is the last night of auditions for Ruddigore (by Gilbert and Sullivan). We are in desperate need for men. You do not have to be a McGill student to participate. So if any Montreal inhabiting man is reading this, please, please, PLEASE come to the SSMU building of McGill and audition on the 4th floor in the so-called clubs lounge. Auditions are from 7 pm to 9 pm. Hope to see some men there! ^_^

Speaking of auditions... seeing as today is the last day, I will have news on the callbacks, hopefully soon. I just hope that I can be called back on the 25th, so that I can redeem myself and hopefully score the role that I wanted...

And I am drifting off on odd tangents right now... I think I will stop here before this post gets out of hand. Please forgive me (I mean it - not the Bryan Adams song!).

My next post will have improved (hopefully) because the pressure my sinuses put on my brain will hopefully have gone by then. Wish me luck!

In which there are events almost more unfortunate than Lemony Snicket's series of said events

Hello world. No I am not dead, sorry to disappoint in that regard. I have just caught a really, really bad cold. I sound like a 90-year-old woman who went to the grave and returned... or like a bullfrog... you decide (I think the first choice was the most poetic though). Anyways, this was (I swear it) my last extended absence from blogging. It was more extended than I expected, due to a series of events that just ate up my time and made my life suck for a while.

...

So... events (sorry, my blocked sinuses mess with my brain and chronology just failed me)...

Well, I guess the first key event that happened last week was the end of my Summer Temporary period with Air Canada. It was a bitter-sweet parting, really. Despite all my complaining on the blog (yeah, I know I do that a lot... sorry!), I really did like my job. I did not like passengers from France, but, aside from that, it was a great job. In all honesty, it was my very first job that I did not HATE. I loved the variety in my day of work. It never really got dull. It was very hard and very physical work (not for sissies, that's for sure!), but it was enjoyable and easy to do with a smile. There is always something interesting going on at the airport. So, except for the few passengers that were real... uhm... arses (and I'm being polite)... it was great! I will especially miss my colleagues who made my job fun. I thoroughly enjoyed gossiping about this and that passenger or XYZ movie star that passed through the airport during a shift. So yeah - now that Air Canada is over, I can relax and I am a lot less stressed. No more weird schedules or double shifts (sadly, also means no more money...) and passengers pressuring you to get things done eight hours before their departure. However, it also means that there will be days when I will not know what to do with myself and miss the hustle and bustle ambiance created by the airport. And the laughter with the colleagues. I will totally miss that. Luckily, I have a great boyfriend and roommate to keep me cheered up. And, hopefully, I will be hired again for the Winter season with Air Canada. That would be really nice.

Now, before I move on to the next event, I must finish with a few Air Canada anecdotes, as I had promised many more than I was actually able to write out. In my last few weeks of work, I met a) the worst passenger to ever cross the airport; and b) some really cool individuals. Here are the stories.

A) A passenger was traveling back to Paris with Air Canada to the Charles-de-Gaulle airport (who wants to go THERE?! Seriously!). This is not particularly unusual... it just means that you have to deal with a lot of France French (blergh!). But this French guy was the worst I have ever encountered. It is CLEARLY posted, all over the Internet (on aircanada.com in the info and services section, under "Baggage"), that Air Canada only accept 1 BAG PER PASSENGER on flights to the US and Europe. It is even placed in a beautiful, easy-to-read, coloured chart. So when the passenger with 2 bags to Europe starts lamenting to my colleague that "it says NOWHERE on the website that I am only allowed 1 bag! It says you are allowed 2!" and my colleague insists that, no, our website clearly states that the second bag to Europe is for a fee... the conversation is already going downhill. The passenger stomped away angrily to look at one of the seven thousand signs all over the airport giving you a nice chart (like the one online) with exact detail of how many bags one is allowed to check in. The sign says something like this:

Baggage Allowance

Flights Within Canada: 1st Bag = Free 2nd Bag = Free 3rd Bag = 100$CAN

Flights to the USA: 1st Bag = Free 2nd Bag = 30$CAN 3rd Bag= 225$CAN

Flights to International Destinations (except Europe and USA): 1st Bag = Free 2nd Bag = Free 3rd Bag = 225$CAN

Flights to Europe: 1st Bag = Free 2nd Bag = 50$CAN 3rd Bag = 225$CAN

This is almost exactly the signs we have planted everywhere in the airport... And so the passenger read this sign and stormed back to my colleague. "You are a LIAR!" he yelled. "The sign RIGHT THERE says I am allowed 2 bags for FREE and the 3rd one is 100$!!"

At this point, I had to get involved, as I know that sign like the back of my hand. "Sir, the 3rd bag for 100$ is only for flights within Canada. If you look again, just a little lower on the chart, you will see that, to Europe, the second bag is 50$ and the third is 225$."

"ARE YOU SAYING I CAN'T READ?!"

Seriously? No. But I was sure thinking it!

Anyways, he ended up storming off, saying he would never travel with AC again and saying that if there are no passengers, we have no jobs. He said he sincerely wished homelessness upon us. Luckily, that jerk is not our only passenger. We hoped he would not make his flight. Sadly, he did.

B) Now for the awesome ones...

The first one was pretty cool. It was not something particularly impressive, but interesting nonetheless. He was flying to Shanghai with only a small backpack and a briefcase. Nothing more. Curious, I asked: "You must be one of the very few who travels such a long way and brings so little!" He smiled and said he was only staying in Shanghai for four days, continuing on to Tokyo for four more and then going to Hong Kong for three days before coming home. I said that was an unusual trip and enquired on what the purpose of his trip was (it is always good to make conversation with passengers). He said he was one of the directors for Cirque du Soleil in Japan. He was going to China to do some recruiting, going to work a little on a show in Tokyo and then going to do some more recruiting before coming home for a tad of family vacation. I was awed. I did not think I would meet a director of Cirque du Soleil someday! It was cool.

The second one was really funny. It was a pirate. I mean it. The guy wore full pirate garb! From head to toe, he was basically donning Captain Barbossa's outfit (with a few minor differences). My colleagues were all awed by his face. It was browned and wrinkly by too much sun (what a sun-tanned old pirate should look like) with a long, straggly and braided black beard and a shock of long greasy hair under a jaunty hat. It freaked out my colleagues that "he really LOOKS like a pirate!" I thought it was awesome. Especially because the guy was missing a leg! He only had about ten inches of thigh and then nothing. He was leaning on a wooden crutch. I think it is clever of him to have made the best out of the situation (the situation being losing your leg) by making himself into a pirate! I actually remarked to him that he was one week early for Talk Like a Pirate Day, to which he giggled. My colleagues were awed that I actually talked to him. The funniest part though, is that he never checked in. He stood in line until he got to the check in counter and then left. I do not know what he was up to, but he cause quite a stir! lol

The third encounter made me squee. I met the pilot of the Gimli Glider by pure accident! ^_^ I actually checked the guy in! For those who do not know, Captain Pearson, who was the pilot of the Gimli Glider, is a hero of modern aviation. Air Canada flight 143 left dear old Montreal airport on July 23rd, 1983 to head to Edmonton. About halfway through the flight, an alarm sounded, alerting the pilots that the engines had run out of fuel. This is any pilot's worst nightmare, I think. Despite the end seeming near, Captain Pearson and his co-pilot safely landed the aircraft in Gimli, Manitoba (which used to be an Air Force base) without anyone dying or being grievously injured. They accomplished this feat by using glider techniques. To understand how impressive their maneuver was, I strongly suggest you look up the episode on Discovery Channel's Mayday. It is AWESOME what they did! And so you can imagine my squee when I checked in this aviation hero! When I asked for his ID, he held out his retired Air Canada employee card. Out of curiosity, I enquired what he used to do at Air Canada. He said he used to be a pilot but I was probably to young to have heard of him. I told him to try me. When he mentioned the Gimli Glider (which is the nickname flight 143 was given after the events), I realized I had Captain Pearson in front of me!! It was so cool! ^_^

So those were my awesome encounters. One of my colleagues saw Robert Pattinson on the American side of the Airport. It is confirmed: the guy is ugly as all hell and apparently, also the biggest jerk the planet has ever encounter. He is a worse divo than many others that have come through the airport. I am very happy I did NOT have to encounter that Twilight twat of an actor!... Pity my colleagues who did meet him though.

Brutal change of subject...

The other events that prevented me from blogging were all related to the McGill administration. THEY SUCK! I am seriously starting to think that they do not want their undergrads to graduate. It was so complicated to get everything done! It turns out that grades and transcripts are not enough to graduate at McGill. No. You need audit sheets to be signed by a prof to prove and confirm that you will have completed your programme by the date you put down on your audit sheet. And this sheet needs to be handed in before a certain date or you cannot graduate. I thankfully found out just in the nick of time or I would have been stuck, unable to graduate. But I am seriously starting to miss High School, where they looked at your transcripts, saw your grades and went: "Oh, great! You pass! Here is your diploma!". Apparently, your transcripts are not worth anything at McGill because they do not confirm that you have completed your programme. What sort of sick bureaucracy is this?!

And, to top it all off, it was really, really difficult to make my schedule this semester. All the classes were at the SAME BLOODY TIME! Every class I had to take turned out to be at 2:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. How the Hell was I supposed to balance this out?! After much discussion with advisors, I was able to sort it out, but man did it take time and running around for absolutely no good reason! grrrr! Stupid McGill administration!!!

And, finally, I had my audition for the McGill Savoy Society this year. I was, for the first time, really going for a role (that of Mad Margaret for Ruddigore). I kind of blew it. Mostly by becoming really, really, REALLY sick the night before and thus ending up with a near complete voice extinction on the very day of my audition. Try singing "I Can Hear the Bells" from Hairspray when your throat feels like it will suffer imminent Diphteria and your sinuses threaten to make your skull explode! It is agony! It sucks, it hurts and you sound terrible (even more so than usual). Add nerves to that and you end up with poor acting and tears by the end of your audition. I hope I can still get the role, but my hopes are currently low...

Furthermore, this morning, I woke up and my mouth hurt from the pressure in my sinuses. Conclusion, I am really, really bloody sick. I blame Michael. He's been having a man-cold for a while and I think he gave it to me. But it seems to have hit me tenfold because everyone around me is sick too and there have been some extreme and sudden weather changes of late... *sniffle* I hate being sick!

I probably had much more to say but this post already seems torturously long, so I will stop myself here. Wish me luck with getting my health back, I will need it so I can impress people at callbacks for Savoy (which are on Saturday). Hopefully I will rock those and I will get the role.

And that, everyone, was my series of unfortunate events that lead to an abscence of blog posts. I will now go make myself more tea... *sniffle*

P.S. Despite the oncoming illness, Talk Like A Pirate Day rocked! I was not a historical pirate, but still a drop-dead sexy pirate wench, if I do say so myself! ^_^ Too bad I do not have any pictures... And I bought some AWESOME spiced mead for said Pirate Day. It comes in a stone bottle with a wax seal! How cool is that?! And it was yummy too!

...

........ Okay, tea now!

In which Michael donned a flowery kimono

Greetings to all the world wide web out there! I apologize for my prolonged absence and wish to say that no, I did not abandon my blog at all. I was just too freakin' busy to write a single syllable. And, when I say busy, I am not kidding!

The double shifts after my return with Germany were hard. Very hard. I was completely exhausted and still have back and neck pain due to the whole fiasco. And, believe me, early mornings at an airport ARE a fiasco! First of all, you get all the people who missed their flights the previous night flooding your counter with bogus excuses and, most often, tears and very overweight luggage. Then, you get everyone who has decided that they would fly out to Cuba lining up for miles inside the airport so you can barely breathe. And, as those flights are usually around 5 am, you are working very hard, very, very, brutally early.

I am sorry if I sound snarky. I do not mean to. I am just soooooooo tired. I am afraid that the black rims under my eyes have become permanent by now. I have given up on the idea of make-up and concealer. No matter what I try, I look like death warmed up. I think I should star as the next victim on a CSI episode.

... And I know I promised many anecdotes from the airport at the beginning of the summer. Truth be told, there are so many by now that I no longer know which ones to tell. One thing can be said for sure, passengers always forget to pack their brains. They left it in some corner at home and arrive at the airport illiterate, without a sense of direction or logic. It is incredible how often you have to repeat yourself sometimes. Take one example: we have these huge, four kilo boxes made of sturdy grey plastic piled up in columns all around the check-in area. We ask passengers to place soft fabric bags or backpacks (or any other kind of bag that might get damaged from being thrown down a bagage chute) to place their bags in these boxes to prevent snagging on the equipement as well as tearing and damaging of the bags. And every time you point at the pile of boxes and ask with your brightest smile: "Could you please fetch me one of those big grey plastic boxes back there. I need you to put your bag in it," you get the dumbest responses. "What, my passport?" No, the plastic box! Were you not listening? "Something wrong with my carry-on?" No! I said the BOXES behind you! "What is behind me?" Turn around and look at where I am pointing in the name of God! And then, when you indadvertantly sigh, you get a nightmarish reaction out of a passenger: "Why are you sighing? Did you hear her sigh? She has no right to sigh! You have no right to sigh! We are passengers too and you owe us your respect! I am never traveling with you again! You are so rude!" (I swear, around 6:30 pm, just before my break, that was exactly the sort of character who showed up before my counter!).

I know I must sound exhasperated, but I am mostly just tired. I still love my job. It is better than a desk job anyday! And I get to practice my Japanese. And my colleagues are absolutely awesome! But the shifts are a bummer. And the more tired you get, the more passengers can get on your nerves. But I am good. It is a lot of fun to exchange passenger stories with other colleagues. The stories that come out can be epic! It is wonderful.

But my tiredness mostly ensues from a harsh back-to-school week. I am starting my final year of my BA in English Literature, East Asian Studies and Theatre and Drama. Guess what, my classes this year are, for the most part, uninteresting and mostly filler. Basically what I am missing to complete my degree. I am stressed out about it being the end of my degree. I do not want to be done with school yet. I enjoy it far too much! I will even endure some classes for the sake of staying in school! For intance, one of my classes, a rather dreary class called Mass Culture and Postwar Japan, is given in the Birks Chapel Building. It is such a gorgeous building! Every time I walk up the stairs to my class, I feel like a Renaissance princess due to the architecture and dark stained wood-panelled walls. This is why I am keeping this class.
...
Wow, I was on a roll there. Anyways, I am very tired because, at this point, I have to balance school with work. And that sucks big time! Because I go to school, all day, Monday through Thursday and then I work Friday to Sunday, three full-time shifts. Weekends and outings? Sorry, not happening. The workload is taking its toll on me. And it is a very harsh one.

On the other hand, I spent my one day off with my mum, last week. We had a lot of fun and I finally went to get the massage I had received for Christmas (my mum had given me a gift certificate). The massage was great! But I do believe I need another one already... And my mum was at the airport today, traveling to Deer Lake (wherever that is). It made me very happy to see her. I think she misses me too...

And, speaking of mum, her birthday is coming up soon. Too soon... I work (or have school) almost every day leading up to her 50th birthday... What shall I do? Suggestions???

...
Okay, this is turning into a much more cock-and-bull post than I expected and/or planned to write. It is not too late to give up on my post and go read a chapter or two from Tristram Shandy. It might make more sense than my late-night blog ramblings.

Anyways, Michael is back in the country. It makes me deliriously happy. I have missed him so much! It feels so good to have him back (even though the bastard gave me his cold!). I like having him in bed beside me. He is the best teddy bear ever! And I have less weird dreams and nightmares with him around. Must be love, don't you think? *wink*

This is where this post's title comes into play. I hope this story will at least make you smile.
So, I was working the day Michael came back. I offered him the couch in our "quiet" staff room to sleep on until my shift finished and then we went back together to the apartment. I was really happy to have him back. So much so, I barely slept. But, during the time I spent awake, Michael was out like a burned out cellar light.

However, he must have gotten up at some point during the night. Why? Because, when I woke up, happy and bubbly at the idea to have him back, and turned to look at him and wish him a "good morning," words failed me. Instead of "good morning," I blurted out: "Why are you wearing my kimono?" Big, round staring eyes. Michael was casually wearing my pink and gold flowery kimono. I cannot describe the sight. But it was epic in its hilarity. A scruffy and unshaven man, like Michael, lying comfortably in bed in what was obviously a woman's garment... It turns out Michael woke up at some point and grabbed what he thought was his shirt. Obviously, the man has poor eyesight in the dark! (Sorry Michael!) It was very funny, but maybe you had to be there to get it.

Other than that, I have barely had time to spend with Michael because the two of us were back to the grindstone as soon as he touched ground. Work and school for the two of us. It is a pain. I miss him despite sleeping at his side every night. I barely get to see him for an hour when I wake up. He is at work when I come home. I am currently waiting up for him.

And, in completely other news, I finished three Diana Wynne Jones books in the past two weeks. And I bought a brand-new Kathy Reichs novel, as I had nothing new to read. Also, I finally got to do a paid shoot and it turned out pretty darned well, I should think. Here is the link: http://www.productionsmarcboucher.com/page2.html The photographer really enjoyed working with me. I enjoyed it too. We spent the evening on a street in the Old Port of Montreal. Unable to find the owner of an old Dodge we had found parked by the sidewalk, we decided to shoot around the car anyway, waiting for a red light so the photographer could stand in the intersection and shoot as I posed for him...

... And here I thought I had another thread of thought to follow, but I lost it at some point through my ramblings. Oh, well. Better luck next time. The good news is, with the new start of term, I will probably be blogging a lot more (probably during some dull classes, tee hee), and thus my updates will be more cohesive and will actually make sense.

I send my love to all! Even grouchy passengers!

In which Cosi Fan Tutte is reviewed - or The Germany Chronicles 5

Most of you already know the cause of my long silence on the blog lately. Indeed, it is because I have been working double shifts for several days (thus completely exhausting myself) in order to get the 21st and the 22nd of August as days off. Why are these dates so important to me? Because Michael starred as the lead in his first Opera on Sunday August 22nd. However, it is not like the show was easily accessible... I had to head to Weimar, Germany, in order to show Michael my support and see his show. So on the 19th in the evening, I flew to Frankfurt, landed on the 20th in the morning, and then took a three hour train ride to Weimar. I have only just come back from said trip a few hours ago.

Before I review Michael's opera, allow me to say how wonderful a city Weimar is. When I got off the train, I thought I had somehow time-travelled back to the 1800s. Except for the modern cars and a monument to the Buchenwald victims (which dates to the late 1940s, I think), most of the city is enormously old. Indeed, Schiller and Goethe, famous German authors, both spent much time there, and the city still looks like it may have been back in their day. Among other things, most of the city (I would say 95 percent of it) is covered in cobblestones. No ashphalt. Usually, that would have been fine, except that I had made the trip in my work heels, and for those who have tried it, you know that heels on cobblestone are a nightmare! I do not want to know what women's feet were like back in the Victorian age, when cobblestones and high-heels ruled and one had no choice but to circulate in them! The cobblestones would not have been so bad if I had not gotten completely lost trying to find Michael's opera studio. I ended up with bleeding ankles due to my confused wanderings. However, I ended up successfully finding Michael's opera studio, called the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar. The reason it was so hard to find is that, in old European cities like Weimar, people had little consideration for parallel streets when the city was built. Unlike North American cities, where a system of parallel streets and squares was divised, Weimar is more like a huge Celtic Knot of Strassen (streets), Plaetze (plazas), and Gassen (alleys). It was really hard to figure out where I was going and I think I went in circles a few times, only barely missing Michael's opera studio, before I finally found it. But the whole city was really gorgeous and worth seeing! And the weather was great! I think I will go back there sometime, but for a longer period of time (and with better shoes).

Michael was really happy to see me. I was very elated to see him too. Apparently, my visiting him provided great moral support at a very opportune moment. The manager of the programme, a certain Greek bass-baritone Damon Nestor Ploumis, is probably the most flamboyant individual I have ever encountered, along with my high-school math teacher, Mr. Tarakdjian. Indeed, he was the type of person who wore custom-made waist-coats from his "tailor in Cypress" (I asked him, this is all true!). Despite his over-the-top persona, though, Damon was a very nice man and I think he was a great help to Michael in his musical progress, along with several others of the wonderful and great people I have met there, in Weimar. I think Michael did have a great experience there, no matter how difficult it was.

And now to the review...

I saw Cosi Fan Tutte, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by no less than three casts while I was in Weimar. All of them were phenomenal performances! One of them was particularly fun, as we all went to a castle from the 1600s called Schloss Kochberg (where Goethe also spent some time) and the opera was performed in the tiny adjacent theater dating back to the days of Mozart himself. The other performances were in the Volkshaus of Weimar, basically in the "people's playhouse."

But that's all beside the point. I will only review Michael's perfomance (the Sunday evening) as reviewing them all would take me forever. But I can tell you they are all brilliant perfomers and I hope they all have great success in their later careers.

So, in the Opera, it all started out with a really funny fight-scene, in which Michael (as Ferrando) was basically taunting a fellow soldier, all with regards to how honest and faithful their respective fiancées are. Michael opened the opera with the very first line "La Mia Dorabella" setting a very good energy for the play. The baritone and bass characters, Guglielmo (performed by the baritone Bryan) and Don Alfonso (performed by a bass from Montreal named Alain) were also phenomenal. I thought Alain was absolutely hilarious as Don Alfonso, especially because he has, as Michael put it so well, "a fifty-year-old bass wobble" to his voice. It was absolutely epic. Bryan, the baritone, was very good too and sounded great, but I believe he may have had more experience than the others in the Sunday cast, as he had performed in the Castle performance as well.

Anyhow, Michael's great moment of glory came when he sang his aria: Un'aura amorosa—"A loving breath." I was speechless with the beauty of the song. So speechless I could barely find the strength to clap, while in the back, many girls cheered loud "bravos" for Michael. I think he did the aria beautifully, probably best than all the other tenors in the other casts. I think he made every woman in the audience swoon when he sang. He sang it so beautifully, and, more than once, he looked directly at me while singing. He told me later he was singing it for me. I guess it helped him sound so in love during the song! ^_^ His acting during the number was also phenomenal. You could SEE the love pouring out of his pores, just like it poured out of his voice. And, in the words of some fellow singers of Michael's; "it was a really difficult aria, and Michael nailed it!" I was so proud of him!

Most of the Opera was comedy, and it was wonderfully and hilariously stages, with funny little dance moves that can only be shown, and, sadly, not described. But just picture Michael in a faux-beard-moustache (because he was disguised as an Albanian) and shaking his booty in an attempt to woo a pretty soprano. It was epic and hilarious! I loved watching it. It is too bad it was only on for a very short time, otherwise, I would advise all to go and watch it. It is a great opera, fantastic music, fantastic staging and fantastic performances. I hope there will be videos, because every one should see it!

I know, this is an odd review, but it is difficult to review a piece like Cosi when performed by new up-and-coming singers. But I can guarantee that the whole thing was absolutely amazing!

Back to the post...

The unfortunate thing was that, while spending some time with me after a rehearsal, Michael's laptop was stolen from his room. I feel really guilty because, had we not spent some time together, Michael might still have his computer. And there are many things of value to the two of us on that laptop, such as all the pictures from Germany in May (of which we have no copies and not nearly half of them were uploaded to Facebook yet!). I do hope it turns up. It really put a damper on Michael's amazing performance that such a stupid thing had to happen!

Okay - I will go and get some shut-eye, seeing as I was up by four in the morning, German time, in order to take a train back to Franfurt airport and fly home. I am completely exhausted. But, before I go, I wish to say that, other than Michael's amazing performance, one of the best things in Weimar is that most of the town is "Fussgaengerzone," i.e. "pedestrians only zone." It makes it a great city to visit!

* Edit: Due to popular demand, some of the wording in this post was changed! ^_^ Cheers!

In which the Otakuthon took place

Please feel free to (finally) have a look at my cosplay. Here is the completed result. The photos are scanned, though, so forgive the poor quality of them. The second photo was taken from above, so the angle is a little odd... But I am glad at how it turned out!



Anyways, on with the post...

For one glorious weekend, I was back among the living. No work. No stress. Just some great fun with even greater friends.

I attended the Otakuthon, a Quebec anime convention that takes place in Montreal. Considering how insignificant the convention was a few years back, it has much improved, featuring stars of anime like the Full Metal Alchemist voice actors and the master cosplayers Sarcasm Hime and Lillyxandra.

My cosplay turned out AMAZING! For those who do not yet know, I was cosplaying the Archangel Gabriel (aka Jibril) from the manga Angel Sanctuary. The specific costume I made was actually from the second Artbook by Kaori Yuki (the mangaka mastermind behind Angel Sanctuary), called Lost Angel. Despite all my complaining and my near depression with the difficult progress of the costume, I am really happy at how it turned out! I only finished it at 4 a.m. on the Saturday, just before the convention. With bags under my eyes, but a smile, I went to the convention with a happy strut.

Quick details about my costume. It was hard to make. First of all, because my job is eating up so much of my time and I do not feel like doing anything when I get home. But it was also difficult because I had one single picture as a reference and no proper pattern to work with. I did buy a commercial pattern, because the waist of the dress seemed to suit my cosplay, but, upon further observation, I noticed that the dress pattern was entirely wrong for my purposes. I had to ditch the skirt of it and use a skirt pattern from something completely different and I also had to change some seams around to have the zipper on the side instead of in the back, not to mention all the tweaking and shortening that was done to the waist bit. Then came the really hard part. Improv. I had no pattern for either sleeve, so I just measured my arms, cut some fabric, and improvised. I sewed my left sleeve a grand total of four times before succeeding. The hood and the neck corset nearly gave me an ulcer from all the work it took. I basically did my own pattern drafting for these pieces... except without a drafted pattern. I should buy pattern paper, because improvising on your fabric can be stressful when you only have limited amounts of it. I then used a pattern for the bum-roll and completely improvised the tulle petticoat.

There are a few things I want to change about my design, but I believe I can make all those changes for Anime North and maybe absolutely rock the house there. I am even considering entering the masquerade (the costume contest of the convention) at Anime North if I manage to bring this costume up to scratch (amongst other things, I should really think of adding the wings). One thing I know for sure is that I am never using such ichy fabric again!! The main part of the dress was fine, that was not the ichy part. It was the neck corset and my left sleeve... they were made of a sheer, tulle-like fabric that iched like chicken-pox! It was driving me NUTS during the whole convention!!

I also have to give great credit to my roommate, Vanessa, who handcrafted my head jewel and the jewel on the neckpiece. She also did my make-up, as my make-up talents are very limited and the flowers on the original drawing were very intricate.

It made me deliriously happy to see my friends at the convention. We went to loads of events and had a lot of fun. I even made new friends, which was great!! And many, MANY people took pictures of me wherever I went. This has never happened to me before, but I really enjoyed it! I think about 100 random people must have asked for my picture! AWESOME! Not too bad for a first convention cosplay, eh?

My main joy to the Otakuthon, though, was a major fangirl moment, when I met Lillyxandra face-to-face. I had been following that amazing woman's website for ages, ever since I discovered her on cosplay.com (which must have been about two years ago, now). She is one of my very favourite cosplayers! She does many original designs and absolutely gorgeous fairy costumes! Her work is jaw-dropping and stunning! I got a hug from her, which made me very happy! I am also the proud owner of her autograph. The best part, though, was when Lillyxandra actually complimented me about my costume. She loved the paint-job I did on the bra and the way I had made the costume. She thought it was well made and said that she loved that outfit from the artbook and had considered making it for herself too. It made me very happy and I had a major squee moment. Then we talked for a long time. She was there on both the Saturday and the Sunday, dressed as Queen Serenity on the Saturday, and as her own Fairy Design on the Sunday. I hope to be as gifted as she is with costumes someday!

I also met Sarcasm Hime!! (She is another of my favourite cosplayer, by the way.) However, she had to run, as she was on the judging pannel for the masquerade. But she suggested I contact her by email! She was so nice!

The one really disappointing thing about the convention happened at the very end of it. A disappointing moment aside from the moment of shock when a picture of Michael's ex stared up at me from the photography booth....
Anyways, I decided, after a long debate with myself, to purchase the complete first season DVD box set of Full Metal Alchemist. It is my absolute favourite series, it was at a reasonable price and I had wanted it forever, so it was money well spent, I think. And besides, it was my only purchase during the entire convention (except for a 10$ photoshoot).
Unfortunately for me, I put it in the only bag I had brought to the convention with me. When the time came to leave, I rummaged through the bag in order to find my metro pass. In order to make the search easier, I took out the DVDs. However, I have several friends as witnesses who SWEAR they saw me put the box set back into my bag. So how did it manage to disappear after that? Did I lose it? Was it stolen? I have already shed some tears over the lost DVDs and I am super angry at myself, because I usually never forget this kind of stuff. It is really frustrating for me, because I was really happy about it and looking forward to it until it vanished. And I have no idea what happened either! No recollection of anything. It did not turn up in the lost and found and I searched the premises of the convention myself for it. Zilch. It really ruined what would otherwise have been a great evening. I am really disappointed, both in myself and in the situation. And to put a damper on things (no pun intended), it started pouring rain when I came home, so I got drenched... in costume!

Anyways, I think that is enough updates for today. I will update again soon. I am sorry my writing is not of its usual quality, but I am super tired. I will now turn in for a good night's sleep. Please pray with me, though, that some honest soul has found and will return my DVDs...

P.S. But the Otakuthon was still absolutely awesome! So many pretty cosplays! Wish I had had a camera (which, unfortunately, I did not! *pout*)

In which there are further head injuries

All right, I confess... this one is not exactly a head injury. But it is pretty darned close to being one!

When I woke up this morning, I had a very nasty surprise. I woke up two hours before my alarm clock - which, as many know, very unusual for me - and woke to find a nice day and to find that I was quite alert and ready to start my day. As I shifted in bed, wishing to get up, pain shot from my left shoulder to my head, causing an almost instant migraine. Wondering what was wrong, I tried to shift my head... and found it was impossible. My head was stuck to the right. I could not even force myself to look to the front.

For half an hour, I made calls to my mum, my dad, etc. in order to figure out what was wrong. It turned out I had what we call, in good French, a "torticollis". Now, I was looking up the word to figure out what it was in English for the sake of my readers, but it came up with such a variety of translations that I am not quite certain of what it is I have. There is a "torticollis" in English too, but it seems to be a handicap from a genetic disorder at birth. I can assure you, this is not my case. Other translations were "wry neck," "neck sprain," "stiff neck," "whiplash," "cricked neck," "neck sore," and several medical conditions in Latin that I will not list here. So take your pick. Decide what I have. One thing I can assure you is that I cannot explain it. I have no idea how it happened. I just woke up with the misfortune of having XYZ condition this morning.

And let me tell you... it is bloody painful! Ignore my previous post. I was fit as a fiddle during that one (despite the top of my right ear being blackened for two days... it has now gone down to a slight redness, which is a good sign). My neck, this morning, was absolute agony! It made me realize just how heavy a body part the head actually is.

Getting up was a bloody nightmare! It took me about 10 minutes just to sit up and it made me cry out as tears stung my eyes from the pain. As I pushed myself up from the mattress, my head's weight pulled my neck backwards. It cause me accute pain, so I tried tensing the muscles to avoid my head tilting backwards... and the pain was even more severe. With my head stuck to the right I tried to get dressed - which is an immensely difficult task, I assure you - and then proceeded to try and look straight ahead of me, instead of constantly to the right (having glasses, I do not like to count on my weak peripheral vision too much). Despite trying to force through the pain, my head would not turn. I even used both my hands to try and turn my head to look forward, but the only result I got was that I ended up screaming and crying. It was rather pathetic.

Anyways, with my head awkwardly twisted to the right, I exited the apartment (through the hint of a new staircase we now have at the front... speaking of which, since that hint of staircase, no further renovations have been done! *pout*). I felt really uncomfortable walking down the street, only able to look over my right shoulder. I had to turn my entire body to look accross the street before crossing at an intersection. And I looked like I was constantly window shopping too! I think others thought I was a bit of a freak really. The oddest thing? A guy picked that moment to compliment me: "You are a very beautiful woman!" he said. However, I could not quite look at him to smile or thank him... because I was stuck at such a stupid angle.

Anyways, I finally made it to the pharmacy and bought several anti-inflamatory creams (which makes me sound like an old arthritic lady, I know!) and several pain-killers. I also bought some Robax muscle relaxants, but I resolved to take those only at night, as I do not wish to fall asleep at work. In the end, after smearing my neck and shoulder with cream and taking several pills, I managed to dull the pain enough to bring my face to look straight ahead of me. I needed to use my hands to turn it forward though. After that, I did not dare move it back to the right in case it got stuck again. So I basically spent the whole day looking straight ahead of me.

Now, work today was, literally, a pain in the neck. I am not used to moving with my entire body when looking at something, or turning to someone. I usually move my head alone. So I made many involuntary sudden movements (especially to my left side). The pain shot through me like a gunshot (not that I would know what that feels like, but... well, never mind!) and caused migraines, nausea and dizziness. I think I even came down with a small fever at some point, because I felt cold, then warm, then shivered... It was, all in all, a crappy day! I even think passengers thought me rude, because I would often lead them (to bagage drop, etc.) with my back to them. Usually, I like turning around to address them, but it was impossible today. And looking down at passports and computer screens was excruciating and difficult! And people kept walking out of my line of sight too! I did not enjoy this at all! *pout*

As a result, despite wanting to complete my cosplay tonight, I was unable to work on my costume at all. I will admit, I am not keen on leaning over my sewing machine when my neck is making me swear every few minutes. This is really stupidly painful! And I cannot explain why! Frustrating!

Unfortunately, I do not have many other news to convey. Michael has been completely silent for a while, though I imagine his programme keeps him that busy, so it is not really an issue. I still miss him dearly... though the strong pain in my neck is providing a good (however unhealthy) distraction. I am looking forward to seeing Michael back.

Other than that, there is not much to say. I am still watching the series Bones with enthusiasm. I find it brilliant that Brennan (the main character) is, like the creator of the series, an author of mystery fiction on top of being a forensic anthropologist. But the funny part? The main character in Brennan's book is named after the author of the "Bones" books: Kathy Reichs! I thought that was a hilarious idea (you only find out in passing in the episode "The Bodies in the Book" from season 2). Anyways... I thought I would just share my appreciation for that.

Okay... that is it for me tonight! I will now turn off the lights and sleep as well as I can with a neck that feels like it has been wrongly screwed onto my vertebrae. Goodnight!

In which there was a lot of injuries

Hello all! I do not have all that much to say/update/blog on today, unfortunately. However, I felt the need to keep my readers up to date on my comings and goings and odd musings (especially my favourite reader, who is currently halfway across the world! ^_^ )

Anyways. Today was ridiculous. I do not think I have ever hurt myself THAT often in less than 24 hours. It all started this morning. As you are all aware, the front steps are no longer there (though this evening, when coming home from work, I happily discovered the skeleton of a new staircase being erected! Hopefully it will be completed by tomorrow and I can use the normal way out again!) and I have had to use the back door, in other words the emergency exit, to get out of my apartment and safely down to ground level. Now, the issue is that there is a fence that keeps our backyard "safe". My roommate and I have a huge issue with said fence... It is locked! We both have the key to the lock, and it IS the correct key (for we compared it with that of our neighbours), however, for some unfathomable reason, it simply does not work. For either of us. So, lately, Vanessa and I have taken to acting like eels of the coast of Canada and just squeezing ourselves through the gap in between the two fence "gates". I must say, we are both very good at that... I am starting to think we may both share some genes with invertebrates.

Anyhow, for some reason, the chain holding the two gate "doors" together was much tighter than usual this morning. Indeed, I could not squeeze through! Or, rather, my body could, but my bloody head could not! I wish I was not so smart! A smaller brain would have been convenient (just kidding here - I am not that pompous... that I know of...) But I certainly did wish that my skull had not fused together yet! Stupid ossification! I was nearly stuck in that fence!! However, after lots of pulling and painful yanks, I got my head out and went to work, temples throbbing like someone had whacked them with a hammer.

I wish the headache had been the worst consequence of my squeeze-through mishap, but there was more. I really hurt my right ear squeezing through that fence. At first I thought it was nothing. My upper ear-lobe was just throbbing and smarting right after the event... which would be consistent with some bruising obtained as I pulled my head through the fence. There were no cuts, no blood, nothing to worry about... so I ignored it. However, that ear has been hurting all bloody day! For nearly 20 hours now, my ear has been smarting. It is not extremely painful, but I cannot say that it is not annoying! I am getting tired of this painful throbbing!! And after having people look at the upper lobe of my ear, they keep saying it looks very red... either bruised or inflamed. I am praying it is a bruise. Because if there is damage to the cartilage, nothing can be done to repair it (cartilage has no blood vessels... I looked it up)... stupid cartilage!
Anyways, now I am trying to figure out a way to sleep without ending up on that ear and making it hurt more.

The day is not over yet, though. The hurts got worse. First off, I have managed to keep my paper-cut record pretty low since starting work for AC. After the first week of work, during which I paper-cut about every square millimeter of my hand, I managed to stay relatively paper-cut free. However, today, I managed to achieve seven paper cuts in four hours alone. It was starting to irk me enormously.

And for the last injury... a passenger showed up with two bags. One of 20 kilos, and one of 36 kilos... DO THEY NOT READ THE RULES?! No single airline would accept that weight! It is 32 kg maximum, even if you pay a fortune!! If you have something that exceeds that weight, I can only say a) Cargo; or b) ship it! Do not put it on a passenger plane! Anyways, the lady wanted help lugging this Godzilla of a luggage... And I promptly somehow screwed up my shoulder while helping her. That will teach me to be nice! I have no idea what I did, all I know it that the lower tip of my left shoulder blade is starting to make me swear and curse a lot. It hurts. I imagine that if someone had lodged a knife in my back, between my bones at that exact spot, it would feel the same. Pleasant. Very pleasant.

And now... in order to no longer sound so frustrated about the pain... (sorry about that... but I ache all over... it does kind of piss me off!)

I had a wonderful two days off with my mum. We did not do much, only hang out together and watch some prime-time tv shows (notably the Mentalist), but it felt really good. It was nice to be back at home. I miss the house I grew up in. I also missed my mum. It was really good to see her. I am happy that her chemo is over soon! And for those who are on facebook, I swear that my mum makes the best Spätzle in the world! I even got some for lunch the next morning!

And that is about it for updates. You may want to know that I have been reading a lot of late. I have been drinking more than the daily recomended dose of water in books in the last three days. I love reading... and I had forgotten the joy of it. I have been reading Katy Reichs novels... you know, the ones that inspired the tv show Bones? I love that show. I have been rewatching some episodes online (picking the ones with the most appealing titles) and I have been quite enjoying myself. It is quite the well written show, especially for geeks. And the book is REALLY good! And, speaking of books, the book on how to write fantasy re-appeared... In the KITCHEN! I do not know what it was doing there, as I avoid the kitchen like plague... Must be the wormhole.

Finally, I am sorry to announce that Michael's flowers have dried out. They have lasted about a week, though, which makes me happy. I am just sad to see that their beauty has wilted. Strangely enough, though, they have dried out rather than simply died. That struck me as strange, seeing as I have been changing their water every second day... Oh well... I am not someone who knows much about botanics anyways... It is just unfortunate. I loved those flowers, they meant a lot to me. The first proper bouquet Michael has given me... *sigh*

Anyways - I am off to bed now! I cannot believe how much I have been rambling!

Oh, and P.S. Michael's mum suggested I write about the disappearing objects in my room. Except that I should make it faeries. I like faeries. I think I will take her up on the idea! Look for more developpements on that soon! ;-D

In which a wormhole has appeared

I have come to the conclusion that there is a wormhole in my bedroom. Precisely, it is an invisible, perfectly unnoticeable, ten square inch little portal to a parallel universe. I have also concluded that said wormhole is precisely five inches away from my bed, right beside my bedside table.

Now, you may want to ask: "how does one discover a portal into alternate universes when it is invisible and hidden in such an inconspicuous location?" I shall tell you... I am brilliant! That is why. No, in all seriousness (or as serious as this post can be... which is not very...), here is the story.

Last night, I was reading that wonderful book I had mentioned to you before; the wittily written one about writing fantasy. There was even a draft for a story I am writing concealed within the pages of the book. After reading it last night, I made the gargantuan mistake of putting the book down by my bedside and, in doing so, placing it exactly (however inadvertently) into the wormhole! Indeed, by morning, the book and my draft were absolutely nowhere to be found! Even when I came back from work, I searched again... still no sign of any book!

Now, I know that some people (like mum) would argue that it is not surprising that I lose things in my room because "it is so messy!" Well, let me tell you that, despite the rest of my room being messy, my bedside is always kept well organized, because that is where I leave the precious books I read as well as my computer. And I SWEAR that is where I put my book down last night (where I always put my books).

Nonetheless, I ransacked my bedside area as well as the rest of my chaotic bedroom, sadly to no avail. The book just refused to be found. Thus, I concluded that a wormhole must have formed overnight...

My suspicions about the wormhole were confirmed a few minutes later, when I dropped an object at my bedside and was unable to find it. And I bent down to pick it up immediately after it fell, so unless inanimate objects have developed the ability to grow legs or the ability to travel at extremely high speeds, there is not way it could have just vanished... except for the wormhole theory. I wonder where the things that fall into the wormhole go? A parallel universe? Or maybe just the good old anime hammer-space? Anyways, I hope to see my lost items again soon, and I will be sure to avoid the wormhole (or I might just jump right into it... I am still debating on what I ought to do...)

In other news, the CBC television came by at work today. With cameras! Check your national news channels tonight, I just might be on TV. However, I am just in the very far background, working at my counter. Thank God for that, really, because it is not for any good news that the CBC showed up. It turns out that there is a video on youtube where a young agent let veiled women (wearing a chador) board the flight without asking them to remove their veils. This has sparked many outrageous headlines about how Air Canada has embarrassed themselves with lax security measures. It has caused quite the uproar. I do not see why... The women were from Saudi Arabia, where it is quite legal to have a passport photo WITH VEIL in your passeport. So whether you remove it or not in front of the agent makes no difference, because you are wearing a veil on your photo. On top of that, the agents that were on the scene said that they were transparent veils, so asking to remove them would have been rather pointless. Also, there are so many security checks throughout the airport that, by the time someone gets to boarding, they have been inspected enough to confirm their identity. I feel bad for the agent. I know her and she is a temp, like myself...

The poor agent was being filmed by a passenger without her knowledge of it and he subsequently posted the video on youtube. That passenger completely disregarding common decency and respect and I do believe that he must have violated some human rights somewhere, because the agent never agreed to being filmed! And how in the world was he allowed to film in there? To be fair, with all the cellphones with cameras and iPods that can take videos, it is hard to tell nowadays whether someone is filming something... But, if it is illegal to take photos inside a department store because it is deemed a security breach, then how can someone be allowed to FILM in an area like the airport?? I think this passenger should be sanctionned! And severely! But no one on the news sees the passenger as the wrongdoer. But obviously his flight landed without a hitch, if he was able to post the offensive video on youtube! Here is the video, just by the way... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAB1GffSSZc

Now that you have watched the video, I hope you understand why I take offense. Clearly, this was all filmed for one sole purpose... Muslim Bashing! The jerk who took this clearly disliked muslims! No... the woman did not go through unchecked! She got checked at at least two security points before! Also, it is common practice that only one person hands in all the passports when a family or group of friends are traveling together. But nobody ever complains if they are not muslim... And have you seen how this is filmed? And the offensive written comments? I mean, it is done on purpose to make us look bad. You cannot even see below the people's faces. So maybe they did hand in their passports individually after all! The insufficient moron who posted this just really disliked muslims and found a new way to slander their religion... as well as breach human rights by illegally filming someone and bashing our airline to boot! What a complete *@&$%!##!! There. I said it. You take a guess at what that word was.
Anyways, what that guy posted on youtube is much, much worse than those kids who would post videos of their profs on youtube when their profs knew nothing about it (which is also a horrible practice!). But the posting of teachers on duty on facebook is much more frowned upon than this horrid video! It makes me really, bloody, freakin' ANGRY!

Oh, and for all my readers who are not my beloved Michael, I am aware that my previous post was super mushy lovey-dovey. But that is just the way I am and just how much I love Michael. So just deal with the mushy!! XD

Oh, and before I go, I found an interesting intrigue at the airport today. Two weeks ago, a goth couple on the bus grossed me out particularly. They had arrived on a flight from Paris and were both from France. They were gross because they were kissing in a most un-sexy way: tongue out and ready to swallow each other's mouths long before they were actually in reach of one another! Anyways, the goth girl from that couple, who I would recognize anywhere because she wore the ugliest nose-ring I had ever seen (and she was also uber-tall, toothpick thin and spoke in the snooty French accent and wore the same red-leopard print purse) was at the airport again. With another guy. And they were kissing in the same disgusting way!! And I can guarantee it was another guy because this one was uglier than the first!! What interesting (???) intrigue! lol

Anyways... that is all for today. Hope it makes up for last night's post, lol!

In which a blogger is very much in love...

I will have to make this short, as it is way past my curfew. Yes. I am THAT tired. I now impose curfews on myself. So far, I have all but failed to actually respect it. I am disappointed in my own sense of discipline (where did that military discipline of mine go? I must have left it in the suitcase Michael brought to Weimar... darn!)

This is just a post to say two things:

a) Michael wrote to me!! ^_^ It made me deliriously happy to see a nice, epic long post from him! I am overjoyed to hear that all is going well! And did you see his comment on my blog!? Did you!! I love him so much and miss him dearly! My tiredness serves as a good distraction, but, sometimes, the "missing Michael" blues hit me really hard. It sucks when it happens on lunch breaks. Anyways - I will update as much as possible my love! You are the best and I know you can do this programme! I think of you and support you!!

b) Today was a very long and very odd day. I got this woman at my counter (at TB... the flights that only go to the USA), who showed up with a manager. From her accent, I deduced that she was German, so I immediately made the switch the the mother tongue. As ever, I was right! ;-D No one can hide the German accent from me! mwahaha!! Anyways, the managers asks me to check in the lady's group. The lady pulls up a stack of eleven passports and I say "sure, no problem!"
I should never have said that! I spent two and a half hours checking people in!! Why? Because the group was a total of 62 people! That's almost the entire aircraft to Laguardia, other than the two seats reserved for crew members! We were aligning the passports and there was not even enough counter to hold them all! However, I had a really nice conversation with the group, who turned out to be a Kammer Orchestra from Germany on tour. It was nice to talk to them. But I went on my break two hours late and half-dead from starvation... That was the less pleasant part.
I also served a passenger who is even more impatient than my father and step-father put together... if that's possible at all. He was quite the piece of work! And my last passenger to boot! Enough said about him, really... he wore me out the most!

Apparently, some of my colleagues had some sexy encounters with guys of the ramp (the men who work on the actual tarmac for those who do not know)... of which I got nothing... No eye-candy for me, sadly. But I got a ton of wheelchairs and walked a long way today...

Oh... and passing by the backyard fence to get out of the house (reminder: missing staircase) is a total nightmare for stockings. I'll let you guess the way those things look now!

Oh... and my roommate accidentally and unfortunately locked herself out of the apartment today. She managed to get back in through the kitchen window really easily though... Can we padlock that window, please?

Okay - that's it for tonight! I should have been in bed two hours ago already!! But Michael's message got me so full of energy! I love him and hearing from him!

Anyways - sorry if this post was dull or not particularly witty... Just letting you know that many more posts will come... and I am tired... but very much in love with my dearest star in the making! ^_^

In which the stairs have vanished

Do you remember the vanishing stairs in the Harry Potter books? If you do not, I strongly suggest re-reading book 4, The Goblet of Fire, where the vanishing step plays an important part because Harry gets stuck in it, under his invisibility cloak, while several professors pass by... (believe it or not, I have not read this book in 2 years and can remember every detail of it...). Well, this is not the type of "vanishing stairs" I wish to talk about.

I was instead referring to the staircase outside my apartment door. As I came back from work this evening, the stairs were just GONE! I kid you not. I stood there, standing about six or seven feet beneath the door of my home, looking up at it; musing about how the post-man will be able to place the mail in the little mailbox now affixed ten feet away from the ground.
I called up my roommate and told her that the stairs were gone. She thought I was joking. Despite her being at home all day, she had never noticed that someone had started rennovating the stairs outside. I could not believe it! Thank God they nailed a thick board in front of the door to keep us from opening it... otherwise, I fear my dear roommate would have just walked out and plummeted a few feet! That would have hurt.

Now, I am not really surprised, as our outdoor staircase was really rusty and sketchy and needed urgent replacing. I just wish I had had a little bit of forewarning. It did a bit of a double-take and having to climb up the creepy staircase leading to my apartment's backdoor was not amusing... not in the dark, at least.

In other news, I had the dumbest passenger ever walk up to me today. I still cannot believe the question I was asked. Many passengers will ask you very obvious questions... but this one...!
Feel free to judge for yourselves:
"So, tell me... West Jet and Air France... It's the same thing, right?"
...
EXCUSE ME?! How in the world did you come to THAT conclusion!! They do not even service the same country!! They do not even sound similar!! I was a little too shocked to answer. When I finally came back to my senses, I asked her to clarify. When she just repeated the same question, I sent her to the information counter of the airport. I feel sorry for the people working there - but that woman just broke my brain too much...

I also got some chocolate from Russians, who just gave me chocolate as a thank you gift for checking them in... I was rather flattered. And I also got a huge bottle of Appleton Estate Rum (my favourite!) from a passenger who could not pass security with it. Surprisingly, the woman was disappointed, but not angry. She did not even argue! She just said I could have it! Usually, they argue forever before they hand over their liquids/alcohol. She did not make a fuss at all. I was really grateful for that. I do feel bad though, because all these people are buying duty-free in one country, and then, in the next country, when they are passing security, they cannot go through with the merchandise... Stupid system! And this is not the airlines' fault! This is a decision the airports have taken... *sigh* Poor passengers!

In yet some other news, I am reading an AMAZING book about writing fantasy novels. It does not so much tell you HOW to write, so much as give you tips on what to remember and what to look for if you intend to get published. However, despite not being a novel, it is very handsomely written; every page is filled with great wit and it makes me laugh a great deal. Here is my favourite quote from it; it is from the chapter on "Ideas" and where said ideas come from:

Go ahead and ask me the dumbest question a writer can be asked:
"DUHH, WHERE D'YA GETCHER IDEAS?"

My answer is always the same - since there is no answer to this query. At least, neither Plato nor Socrates nor Shakespeare could make the codification. When some jamook asks me this one (thereby revealing him/herself to be a person who has about as much imaginative muscle as a head of lettuce) I always smile prettily and answer, "Schenectady."

And when the jamook looks at me quizzically, and scratches head with hairy hand, I add: "Oh, sure. There's a swell Idea Service in Schenectady; and every week I send 'em twenty-five bucks; and every week they send me a fresh six-pak of ideas."

And wouldja believe it... there is always some insufficient asshole who asks me for the address.
- Harlan Ellison

Great quote, is it not? ^_^ It reminds me of high-school and the dim-wittedness of some of the students. I remember when the teacher would ask us to write a short-story for class and some would react saying: "what, we have to come up with an idea?"... I cannot believe how many unimmaginative people are out there. It makes me despair for the state of the world. *sigh*
But this book has made me want to pick up writing again. Who knows, maybe I will finally finish a novel!!

As for the cosplay... it is advancing well, but slowly. I am so tired at the end of a day at work that I am having trouble sewing more than a bit at a time. Tonight, I completed the bustle and the right sleeve. Tomorrow I will attack the left sleeve. And then I will have the hood left to sew. Hopefully, I will not hit any snags and then the cosplay will be finished. If so, then I am done on Monday!! (I am praying that this will happen!)

And, before I leave for bed, I want to say that, for some odd reason, it is much easier to be without Michael this summer than the last. I do not feel as desperate or as distraught. Yes, I feel a little sad and a little lonely, but since the day he has left, it is not nearly as bad. Perhaps it is because work tires me out. If you are reading this, Michael, my love, then do not think I am not missing you! I miss you dearly! And I love you very much! I am just not crying every night anymore... like I used to last year. It is very hard to fall asleep though... it feels odd without you... *pout* I miss you!! Also, Michael called me first thing in the morning when he got to Vienna. Unfortunately, I have not heard from him at all since. I am getting a little frustrated by that... I want to hear from him!

Anyways - hoping Michael reads this: many hugs and kisses, and I am thinking of you.
To my other readers: I am thinking of you too, though in a very different manner!

Goodnight!

In which Michael has gone abroad...

I must warn you - there is nothing cheerful in this post.

I have always found writing relieving. It is somehow soothing for me. So here I am... blogging. I should totally be writing a story, but I have absolutely no inspiration.

Michael has gone. I went with him to see him off at the airport. Of course, I was thoroughly overdressed, as I do best. I hope he will remember how I looked (other than ridiculously overdressed) in the dress that he prefers on me. I actually intrigued most of my colleagues, who were surprised at how formally dressed I was just to see someone off. One of my colleagues called me a "heart-breaker".
Michael's flight for Vienna left at 8:45 pm. I glimpsed him last at the security lines of my workplace, the airport. That was five hours ago now... And I already miss him. I miss him a lot! I know this sounds extremely cheesy. However, I have been living with Michael for a full year now. In three days, our old lease will be up. And this means that, for a full year, Michael and I have been inseparable. Michael and I were like bread and butter, like coca- and cola. I am finding it extremely difficult to picture Michael not being home when I come back from work, greeting me with his gorgeous, enthusiastic and loving smile, loudly clamouring: "hello lovey-love!" (he says that when I enter the house after a long day of work). I will also miss his cooking a great deal! (lol) All those little things he did to make me happy will be dearly missed!

I do not know how I will be able to find sleep. I am so used to having Michael sleep at my side since we have been together. I am used to his warmth beside me, used to him holding me and used to his calm breathing lulling me to sleep. Tonight is going to be very difficult for me...

However, I have followed Michael's advice and gone out with a friend after Michael left, in order to relieve my mind of the sorrow of his departure. I went to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice... it was very entertaining, but I went to see it with a friend from work who is soon moving to Toronto. Another person to leave. It does make me very sad.

Do not get me wrong. I am very happy for Michael. I am deliriously happy that Michael has managed to succeed at getting a lead role in an Opera Programme in Germany! He will be in the most beautiful country in the world and gaining most valuable experience as a singer! I am very excited and happy for his success! What makes me sad is that I cannot be by his side. I wish I could have tagged along. I wish we could have done like the whole past year and just go everywhere and do everything together... *sigh*

The sewing hands have come to a standstill right now. Lately, because the deadline of the Otakuthon was fast approaching, I have been spending every spare minute that was not spent with Michael sewing my massive out of proportion cosplay. This is why I have been blogging so little. I have either been sewing or spending every last moment I could with Michael. I have found myself unable to sew at all tonight. Like writing, I find myself with no inspiration for sewing.

On either side of me are flowers that Michael has given me. Last night, he met me after work, giving me a single, gorgeous red rose. It is standing on my beside table, looking beautiful and fragrant, reminding me of him and his gentle love for me. On his beside table, I have placed another bouquet of flowers. These flowers are bright and the colours of summer and sunlight. Michael came home from some errands this morning, offering me these amazing flowers as a "goodbye present". They are beautiful... but they make it difficult for me not to cry right now...

It is exceedingly quiet except for my typing at the moment. The apartment lies empty of all life, except for myself and maybe another stray mouse. My roommate is out at a party tonight. As I sit here typing, for some weird and inexplicable reason, a song that I have not heard in ten years comes back to mind. It was called something along the lines of "So Weit Weit Weg" ("So Far Far Away") and I believe it was an Austrian singer who performed it. I remember my mother having this song on a cassette when I was little... she would listen to it in her car and tears would well up in her eyes when she listened to that song, while my step-father, the love of her life, was abroad in Germany, like Michael is now...

Darn it! Why can I only think of sad songs??? Michael better be writing to me, because I will be writing to him! And I will wring his wonderful neck if he does not write to me! (did you read this, my love? I am serious!) *sigh*

I think I will fall asleep looking at the flowers and holding Theophilius, the little black vinyl piggy Michael and I purchased (it is just an insanely cute stuffy)... Michael declared Theo as my guard-piggy... he is to protect me of other men who may have lecherous intentions towards me, lol. I love that Michael understands my love of stuffed animals and enjoys "interacting" with them too... I will miss that a lot.

In other news, since I have to let everyone catch up... I have a stupid summer cold! A summer cold that no ammount of vitamin C seems to be able to cure! I blame both the airport air conditionning and the passengers who have a cold and do not bother keeping their germs from spreading everywhere. I am tired of my inability to breathe!

Also, I have been to see Inception recently with Michael and some friends, and the movie was awesome! I strongly advise it to anyone who is free to go to the theaters sometime soon. Despite the movie's goodness, though, I was still able to predict the ending... I sometimes detest those Oracle abilities of mine; they ruin the best of movies! I have also been to see The Last Airbender (originally named Avatar until James Cameron ruined the title with an abomination of a movie!)
Okay, so the acting in Airbender SUCKED. They chose dreadful actors! But, for the first time ever, they actually stayed true to the original series. I was very pleasantly surprised. Sure, they rushed through some bits of it, but, overall, good job at the script writing. It caused me to re-watch the whole Avatar anime series with Michael over the past few weeks. The movie was very entertaining and the costumes and film settings were great.

I also had a photoshoot. I will post some photos soon. I have another one in a few weeks as well. I promise photos of that too.

And now, dear readers, I will try to distract myself with a movie or something. Writing no longer suffices to quell my sorrow. Michael's flight will be landing in Vienna in a few hours. After that, he has a long train ride to his destination, Weimar, in Germany. I do hope his trip goes well and that he travels safely and arrives soundly. I hope to hear from him then.

Goodnight. I am counting on a few friendly readers to keep my morale up for the coming month! Thanks all!

In which a blogger realizes all her posts start the same way

Indeed, I have been re-reading my posts and I have come to realize that they all begin with apologies for not blogging in a while. In all honesty, I was going to apologize for not blogging this time around too (I wanted to say that the reason why I was not blogging lately is that I melted as soon as I touched my laptop: the thing gets really hot, and in the sweltering heat we have had this past week, I did not feel like going anywhere near it!). But I will spare you another apology. Or at least apologize for apologizing all the time - lol. No, but really: I am a very apologetic person by nature. I would apologize for the death of someone's dog even if I just met the person and their dog died three years ago!! But I guess that this can also be regarded as compassion... and people like me because I am compassionate... right?

Okay - that was random.

Now to the real post.

So, Air Canada has given me a wonderful start-of-work gift. A stye in my left eye!!! I am going completely nuts with it!! It is itching and makes me look like I got beaten up and it is driving me insane!!! Why do I know it is a gift from work at the airport? Because other employees told me that their career started the same... with styes!!! This is what happens when you are touching hundreds of passports a day and you do not know where people have been keeping them. Then you inadvertently rub your eye and BAM! you are caught with a stye. Now, people say the solution is proper hygiene. However, I doubt I can do more than I already do. I have a HUGE bottle of hand-sanitizer in my purse with me, which I apply about once an hour while at work. Then, every time I get the chance to do it, I go wash my hands with soap and water... how much more am I supposed to do to avoid styes??? Wash my hands after every passenger?!?! I am sure passengers would appreciate that... NOT! They would probably think I thought their hands were dirty!!!.............. *grumble grumble grumble grumble*

In other news, I promised some good gossip about passengers. So here it goes!

1) On Monday, a complete ... uhm... not-very-smart woman (to say it politely) came to my counter. She had already checked in her luggage, but she had been sent back to us by security. Why?
Because she had a freakin' BLENDER in her carry-on luggage!!!
She pulled the blender blade out of her purse: a very sharp, serrated brand-new set of blades. She was waving it in my face and saying that "the security guy" sent her back because these blades seemed to be a problem. A senior agent and I looked at her incredulously. She, I am not kidding, said that she did not understand what the problem was with those blender blades! To answer her dumb question, the other agent asked her whether it would be possible to cut someone's throat with the blades. She said she did not know!!! Did she leave her brain in her checked luggage??? Anyways, she could not grasp why she could not take the blender blades with her and she did not want to throw them out "because it is a brand-new 70$ blender", and so we provided a small box and added the boxed blender blades as a piece of luggage, checking it in... I still cannot believe she was that thick though.

2) This one is rather cute. I was sitting beside a girl at the check-in counter. This girl is a summer-temp, like myself. However, she is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous! Someone in her family is black (I do not know whether it is the mother or the father) so she is dark-skinned, and she is wonderfully tall and really slender (she used to play basketball). She looks stunning! Anyways, a lacrosse player comes up to her counter. HOT guy, I tell you! Not at all my type (blonde and blue-eyed... yiech!), but very well built - so much so, I would have appreciated it if he had removed his shirt, lol. Anyways, he got to my colleague's counter and, for a moment, they just stared at each other, completely speechless, with ridiculous smiles on their faces. It was really cute how speechless they both were about each other. I could not help but giggle a little. Eventually, my colleague snapped out of it and asked for the lacrosse player's passport. He just smiled and nodded and did nothing. She had to ask him twice more before he realized what she had said and handed over the passport, still smiling. She checked him in and even remembered his name. Unfortunately, she forgot to write her name and phone number at the back of the boarding pass. But when it was time for her break, she went specially to the bathrooms on the other side of security to see him again. She told me he waved at her. Sweet, no?

3) This one is really unbelievable and probably very frustrating for most passengers. A lady storms to our counter, with her 10-year-old daughter, and basically yells that security has sent her back. It is important for the reader to note that it was 7:50 p.m. at this point. When asked why she was sent back, the lady soon revealed that she had a liter of extra-virgin olive-oil in her carry-on. Like blender-lady, she did not want to get rid of it. We asked her where she was flying to and when she had checked in. Apparently, she had checked in two hours prior, but her flight was leaving at 7:55. And here she was, arguing that she wanted to keep that olive-oil "or the whole trip will have been for nothing!" She also said that the olive-oil was for her uncle's vineyard (how is a vineyard linked to olive-oil????). Anyways, time was passing, and soon 7:55 came and she and her daughter were the only two passengers missing on the flight. This caused some panic, as baggage handlers had started pulling her checked bags from the aircraft and the lady insisted that she wanted to get on the flight, but that she did not want to get rid of the olive-oil. In the end, even the 10-year-old daughter got exasperated: "Mom! Just throw it out already! We're going to miss the flight!" she said several times. The child was being much more mature than the mother. Swearing a lot, the woman finally gave in, at 8:00 p.m. and decided to run to her gate (and baggage handlers had to be called to make sure the luggage was still on board). The lady forgot her boarding pass at the counter, though, so I was sent running to security to give it back to her. In the end, the flight was delayed by about 15 minutes because of a bottle of olive-oil. I really hope that the cabin announcement with regards to the delay told the passengers to blame the crazy-lady who did not want to get rid of her liquid. As a result, though, we've got some fabulous olive-oil in our lunchroom now! lol

So those are the stories. I did my first wheelchair to the gate last week, which was a lot of fun, but nothing to gossip about. I also did lines and kiosk for one whole day, which not only sucks but really, really hurts the feet once you are done with your shift...

Anyways, work is good and fun. Though the heat did put a damper on things. Because the doors of the airport are constantly open, the air conditioning is rendered completely useless!!

I also went to Ottawa to renew my German passport with my mum on Tuesday. It was a long drive through sweltering weather, but it was fun. Actually, the passport renewal bit was less fun than the long drive, lol.

And that's about it for my week, really. Michael and I went to a street sale on Saint-Hubert yesterday, which was loads of fun and got a lot of really cheap goodies. We also went to my dad's place and made good use of the pool there yesterday and today. My dad (who was spying on us from the balcony) thinks we make a really good couple. Which is good, because that means he approves of Michael. YAY!

And now I feel like actually writing a story. Do not ask me why, the reason is quite ridiculous. I will be blogging again soon, hopefully sooner than last time! Cheers!

Photos of Casa Loma

Oh wait! I completely forgot the photos of Casa Loma Renaissance Faire!! Here they are for your viewing pleasure!!

1 2
3 4

5


Pictures:
1- Me admiring a hawk used for hunting. I have always loved birds of prey and I have always wanted to be one of the falconers (if that's a word) like those in Landshut during the Landshuter Hochzeit.

2- Michael looking cute and his obnoxious (but wonderfully FREE) sword is poking out of his outfit. That's the one his ex made.

3- A front view of my knight (without his shining armour) in the shirt that we bought together at a medieval store in Montreal. He was wearing it beneath the coat and thank goodness for that, because it got so warm he eventually took off the coat.

4- Me, looking cute in my caul and dress and sitting on a lovely little bench in the Casa Loma gardens.

5- Me, holding the sword we got for free (all thanks to my roomate). I am Jeann D'Arc, la Vierge d'Orleans! :P

In which a blogger is really bloody tired

Hello all you avid readers out there! I know you have anxiously been waiting beside your computer screens, with my page open, just waiting for me to post new stuff! Well rejoice and make merry, for the wait is over and I am, once more, updating!! (And do not give me that bollocks that you have NOT been waiting beside my blog all week, because I KNOW you have!!!........ just kidding! :P )

Anyhoots, I have loads to tell... Really, really have loads to tell. I had been wanting to post all week, but I was insanely busy with work and completely drained and over tired when I got home. For that, I apologize. However, my shifts will be much improved come Tuesday, and then I will be able to blog to my heart's content! Yay!

First of all, I promised some anecdotes related to my wonderfully awesome job. The conclusion? First day of real work = bleeding nightmare! Even my coach was freaking out! I personally thought it was a great learning experience, but, on the other hand, we were told in the classroom that "if all this is happening to you in one single shift, then you're having a really bad day!" Does that mean I should conclude that my first shift was a very bad one?

Let me clarify what I mean. The first passenger I EVER checked in on my own... turned out to be DHP. In other words, his name was similar to the name of someone on a list (potentially even a "no-fly" list) and thus the passenger is not allowed to travel no matter how valid his passport and visas are. So you have to call security and have the passenger cleared so that he may actually check in and board the aircraft. Why is that an issue? Because it takes forever! When you call security, the first thing you hear is "your call is important to us, please hold the line to keep your call priority..." What kind of service is that?! I have a passenger who is super concerned about his passeport in front of me, getting upset about it because he is a foreigner and does not understand why his passport is being refused and I have to be put on hold before I can tell him that he is all clear... *sigh*

Anyways, the next passengers were on a flight to Penticton (or something like that) via Ottawa. The flight to Ottawa had an oversell, so someone took the liberty to offload the passengers (that means to take them off the flight) and put them on a direct flight to their destination. The problem? They never informed the passengers about the change and the direct flight was earlier than the one they were supposed to take. So when they showed up, the flight was closed!! Poor passengers! I felt so bad!

Then, I also had a family travelling to Australia. Everything was in order with their passports and visas. They did not expire until 2018 and they were valid for multiple entries to the country. However, my computer refused to accept the mother's visa. I had to call the "hold the line" number again and was subjected to an even longer wait. So much so that the mother was really getting worried. I could hear her talk to her husband. The children were also quite small and getting fidgety and tired. I felt so bad! And I do not know why the visa was not valid on the computer when I had the perfectly valid paper version of it in front of me. We cleared that up in the end though... Thank God they had shown up early!

Now, I could keep going with stories about the passengers, but I do not feel like it or I will be blogging all day (and this blogger really, REALLY wants her nap now that her shift is done!). But I do have another funny work story to tell.

It was not really at work, but my colleague Chanelle and I were discussing our uniforms and, for some reason, we came to talk about International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I suggested that it would be really funny if Air Canada did something for it (but they would not, as they also do nothing special for Halloween, i.e. reschedule all flights to land in Transylvania). We suggested that the red scarf might be worn as a bandana for the festivities of September 19th. Also, we figured out a completely new procedure on board, specially designed to suit the needs of such a great day as International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
It goes as follows:

"We welcome ye aboard Arrrr Canada. We would like to inform you that parrots are only allowed perched on yer shoulders and should not be stowed in the barrels over yer heads... Also should ye wish ter release the straps holdin' ye down during the navigation, use yer cutlass to undo the belt. If ye've checked in yer cutlass, then that's yer own mistake, ye scurvy dogs! In case of an emerrrrgency that is not on water, a spare wooden leg can be found in the pocket below yer seat. Enjoy yer travels! Arrrrrr Canada!"
... or something like that! ^_^

On a side note: GERMANY WON 4:0 AGAINST ARGENTINA!!! YAY!!!!!!! WE ROCK! Take that, guy at work, who had no confidence in my team!! I hope we win Fifa this year!!

Back to the subject matter...

So I am done with my work stories. Lets move on to the Canada Day Celebrations before I fall asleep halfway through this post...

I went to the Casa Loma Renaissance Faire on Canada Day. It was the only day that I had off during the faire and I decided not to miss it. So I hopped on a flight to Toronto on Wednesday evening after my shift, slept at Michael's parents place, and then went to the faire in the morning.

It was a glorious day! And my costume had turned out really well! I even got compliments from some people who did professional costuming at the faire! I was so happy about it! Many people thought I worked there and admired my dress. I was a photo op for many and my cheeks hurt from all the smiling at the end of a glorious and sunny Canada Day. I myself believe I looked quite ravishing in gold and red, with my cute little caul. Apparently, it was quite historically accurate after all! Yay me and my love for history (and history of costume)!!

I had a lot of fun at Casa Loma. I do not think I have ever gotten THAT much attention before. I will not lie, I quite enjoyed it. And I made some great new friends, which makes me deliriously happy because they are all awesome. The only downside was that I did not get to stay that long because I had to fly back in the evening for work the next day... *pout* Also, Casa Loma is very subdued and tiny in comparison to the faires in Germany and Austria. There, EVERYONE is dressed up and you are an oddity if you are not. At Casa Loma, very few are dressed for the occasion and those who are get asked whether they work there or not. All this to say that I quite enjoyed it. I really fancied the day and just wish it had lasted longer.

I had hoped to make Michael an outfit to match mine before the faire, but that unfortunately failed. So Michael looked really cute in a Tudor-ish costume his ex had made for him a while back. I am quite glad that his ex was not there too. It concerned me a little, because I know she usually goes there too. I think she would have ruined it for us and it would have made quite the fiasco... But nothing happened and thank God for that! I had one of the awesomest days ever!!

And, before I forget, I tried my hand at archery at the Casa Loma Renaissance Faire!!! I am really good at it too! To my big (big, BIG!) surprise, I am actually a good shot. The instructor said I was a natural and was quite impressed by how well I was doing, considering this was my first time actually doing archery. I think I should pick up archery lessons... don't you? I would love it! It would be fun! ... Now, where to do archery classes in Montreal.........?

Anyways - it was AWESOME! And, on the flight back, I was as giddy as a five-year-old on his very first trip on an aircraft. Believe it or not, I squeed about the technology of the Airbus 320. I sat directly over the wing. I was watching the flaps on the wing and noticed that... THOSE FLAPS ARE RETRACTABLE!!! Aircrafts are such an awesome piece of engineering! I have been flying since I can remember and I am still impressed that these things can actually fly! The wings are so cool! ... unfortunately, I do not think you can understand this without a drawing, because it is hard to explain why it was so awesome. But it was awesome. Did that point come accross?

Also, I decided, finally, that life is really good and that I am exactly where I want to be right now, on the flight back from Toronto. I have the best boyfriend in the world, he is loyal to me and sticks to me like glue (I love him!). I have a great, fun and entertaining job. I can exploit some of my talents on the side with modeling. I am honing my sewing skills and achieving great results. I am about to finish my first bachelors degree. What more could one want from life?

What made me come to this realization was the sunset seen from the airplane. It was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen! Yes, I believe it even beat the beauty of the sunrise in Japan seen from the top of Fuji-san! The sun was a vast disc of golden-red, floating on the horizon like an orb. Our aircraft was descending at the same time as the sun. At some point, our aircraft was cruising just on top of a sea of clouds... the wings were just brushing the tops of the tufty white waves in the sky. It looked beautiful, almost as if the plane was a ship on an ocean of cloud. And the sun was still following our descent. Then we went into the clouds and the sun was still visible, except that it was now through a haze of white, like a thin veil. It is difficult to find the words of how beautiful this all was without sounding cheezy. When we finally came out from the clouds, closer still to the ground, I watched the sun be swallowed by a darkening horizon and the sky tint itself of various colours of the rainbow... *sigh* It was amazing. And that is when I realized that I really am where I want to be at the moment.

And upon that reflection, it is time for me to shut up and nap... because I really need it! ^_^