tutelage

• that one's for you.

• it left me winded. as though i'd received a heavy blow to the chest. i sat there trying to catch my breath while my mind struggled to grasp what had just happened.

• he wants a shoe-horn. i guess he's just a shoe-horny kind of guy.

• your house is the distance of a thin white duke song away from my house.

• i'm happy to have you back home from your trip to your native land.

• he asked me "since when have you had glasses?" "1994" i told him.

• if i was a masters student, i'd do my thesis on suburban living.

• she wears a vagina on her chest. i think that trumps a heart on a sleeve.

• it rammed me hard in the shoulder. i knew at the time that it would leave a bruise and now i can't remember what it was.

• i roasted an acorn squash for dinner tonight. that is most unlike me.

• i never expected to have a job that was particularly noteworthy. and yet, with quite regularity, i get people gawking at me in awe when i tell them what i do. i feels pretty darn good.

• i pieced it together. you're at spring camp. i didn't clue in until i saw it on facebook two days later.

• you're weird. i think that's why we're friends.

• i told her i really like "fruit-to-go" snacks. she said "i just like fruit". i don't think she was listening to what i was saying.

• sometimes i forget.

• i like doing telephone surveys.

• sometimes i wonder what it would be like to have your life. i wonder if you ever wonder what it's like having MY life.

• she has rats. and i don't mean as pets.

• my eyes watered so much as a result of my allergies that it washed my make-up away completely.

wish and love are not the same thing.

esquire

wha-oh. SOMEBODY's a night-owl and is starting to wake up. but alas, i need to finish this entry then get ready for bed.

i've concluded something about myself. i'm a bit of a social flirt. i'm sure we've all met those guys (or girls) who are very flirtatious and accidentally mislead us into thinking there's a mutual attraction going on. WELL, i think i'm kind of like that but socially instead of romantically. i'm a friendly person who has genuine interest in pretty much everyone i know. i could probe just about anyone with questions about their lives and families for hours. however, this can/has given people the impression that i'd like to be their friends. which is a shame really and i feel terrible about it. like the poor guy (or girl) who gets labeled as a jerk because he's unintentionally lead someone on. i like people and i enjoy making new friends, i just need to make more of an effort to keep up my older/long-standing friendships and not let them fall to the wayside in exchange of new friends.

sometimes it feels like she's an anti-semitic jew. she's the equivalent of someone who hates her own race. it leaves me speechless.

i've been thinking a lot about the subconscious lately. partly because i'm trying to decipher what my heart is ACTUALLY telling me and partly because i've been amazed at the kind of stuff that's appearing in my dreams. yesterday i heard a story on the cbc, then dreamt about it all night long. i don't think i realized at the time what an impact it had had on me. i wonder what my subconscious would be like if it was completely, 100% undiluted by the things around me. how would i feel about life issues, world issues, the new unisex bathrooms at the goat, without pre-imposed opinions of others. i suppose i'll never truly know, but maybe i should focus more of my time on composting the waste in my brain and discovering what's left.

they all get put in little boxes,
and they all come out the same.

carpool

there is no moral to my story. there's no lesson to learn or subliminal messages to decipher.

lately i've been finding that i wish i had black hair. all the surprising beauties seem to have black hair. raven-hair seems so much more exotic and mysterious than what i've got.

in tonight's episode of "lesley goes to the movies" i saw the band's visit. it was the quirky tale of an egyptian police band who goes to play in israel (and get lost). it had a black-haired woman in it, which is perhaps partly why i'm lamenting my bland brown. i realize i could colour my hair but it's just not the same, my hair doesn't have enough body to make the right impact.

somebody's cat was barfing a lot in the night. it made me not want to get up this morning for fear of stepping in it. that's it, i blame her. it's the cat's fault that i was late for work this morning :p

i'm putting together the pieces, which is difficult because some of them are missing.

you guys don't seem as compelled to comment as much as before. that's interesting to me. especially since several of you will comment to me in real life or via email. hmm. interesting indeed.

p.s. i am a bad person

it seems farther than ever before.

intrinsic

it's much easier to call a spade a spade in hindsight.

i just got home from melody's wedding an hour or so ago. i had a really nice time and hung out with a lot of really nice and interesting people. it worked out pretty good. melody seated me with some fun people – we were table number 12 ripping up the dance floor. oOOH YAa. it's really not that tough going to weddings alone, there's always people to talk to, and i felt very included. i'm thinking about making a point of ALWAYS going to weddings alone, much better that than taking an escort who's bored out of his skull.

it was fun to be all gussied up even though i was virtually invisible and there were no dashing men to compliment me on how ravishing i looked. but who cares! i felt good about myself and that's worth more than the admiration of a thousand men.

it turned out that mel's friend offered me her couch, so i crashed there with several of her highschool friends. that saved me a chunk of money which helps make up for the car repair. btw i don't think it's leaking anymore, it ran pretty well today, and only cost 32 bux to fill up which ain't too shabby.

allergy season is hitting me early this year, it's less than ideal and my allergy pills aren't doing the trick like they did last year. i'll just stick it out, it'll be ok. it should only last until june.

feet on ground,
heart in hand,
facing forward,
be yourself.

latin

hope is deceptive. among other things.

i wish i had something more concrete than the passions of my heart. pools that have undetermined depths, they may be unexpectedly shallow.

i have some stuff on my mind but i know better than to speak them. i'm only half-convinced of them myself and not willing to hazard the chance of sounding like a fool. i kind of wish i had a chunk of time in solitary confinement to hash thru it all. perhaps it's better that i can't.

in other news... i was flipping my way thru a rail magazine today at work, and this photo caught my eye:
any guesses who that is? i was so shocked when i saw it! i've never been in a magazine before. even if it's just the back of me and hardly anyone will recognize me. it's so neat! i feel (almost) famous!

what kind of paradise am i looking for?
i've got everything i want and still i want more.

motorcycle

i would sign up right now and i'd have no qualms about it.

this morning i woke up feeling totally and completely well rested. better than i've been in... who knows how long. i credit this to getting adequate hours of sleep, what a concept! i'm going to try to do that EVERY night, and make short nights a rarity.

i've been reading "a prayer for owen meany" at sarah's strong recommendation. i've been enjoying it quite a lot. yesterday i read this excerpt and it made laugh because i'm guilty of his point completely: "it is occasionally necessary for me to tell torontonians of the presence of the atlantic and pacific oceans; they tend to think of the great lakes as the waters of the world".

on tonight's episode of "lesley's night at the movies" i saw caramel. i quite liked it. i didn't realize that beirut had such a french presence, and so catholic! very surprising. there was one scene in particular i found quite heartwarming, i'd rate it up there on my list of movie moments.

i don't know if i'm a lady enough or not, but i'm wearing a shoulder bag and i'm loving every minute it!

WELL, it's almost bedtime. i should go now.

i'm an engine driver on a long run.

phantom

my eyes looked tired today. i'm phobic that i have perma-bags under my eyes and that they're a telltale sign that i'm getting older. however, even though that may be true to some extent, i realized they were prominent today because i'm tired. i was so dosey that i got into my pjs immediately when i arrived home and slipped into bed until 7:30. it was good.

i was surprised to hear she's going to the circus tomorrow. where IS this circus i wonder...

there are the occasional people who seems incapable of reading social cues. they seem to slip by undetected. that can make interactions very difficult.

i have a sneaking suspicion that my car is still leaking petrol. if so... that is the SECOND time since my car shop changed hands that they didn't fix it properly. i'm kind of mad, and i intend to demand my money back if it's found to have a puddle underneath it tomorrow. frank said i should be able to tell by looking at it if it's a newer tank. it doesn't look like one to me.

i think my subconscious has more of a say than i realize.

you can tell me everything i wouldn't care,
you know that i'll always be there.
right by your side no matter what.
consciously endure,
every ache and sore.

5ive

my life's a dark comedy.

my mom always told me to go with my first hunch. that was how she made decisions, like which shoes to buy at biway. sometime that makes good sense, but in other situations it's not the wisest. i wish i had in this case, it would've saved me a lot of time, i just ended up at square one anyways.

hatch is nearly done. i like that people are eagerly anticipating it. it makes all the work we put into it worthwhile.

mayelin got a new job at st. mary's of the lake hospital. it was very sudden: told me on thursday at lunch about the possible job, thursday afternoon was called about interview, went for interview on friday morning, began new job on monday. so now i have no friends at work. i miss mayelin, but it's fine, it just means i read at lunch instead which i really enjoy. now that the weather is nice, i've started walking again which is lovely! probably my favourite part of the work day – it's like recess!

i filled the holes in my wall with toothpaste. minty fresh.

so glad to be back home.

vacant

i woke at 4:22 in the morning after a very interesting dream, even though i was falling over in exhaustion i knew i'd better write that one down. this evening i re-read what i'd written and it made me laugh. not only was it an extremely peculiar dream, i'd also jotted it down in a very entertaining way. it cracked me up. i like "sleepy-stupor lesley", she's really funny.

i found it hard to follow the man in our mandatory pension plan presentation today. pensions are a very foreign concept to me, and i don't fully understand them. i know it has to do with money when you're old. as i sat in the front row (because all the other seats were taken) i grew increasingly drowsy and i wondered if "retired lesley" will be annoyed at "sleepy-stupor lesley" for not paying better attention in the pension meeting. well i suppose i'll just have to close my eyes and pin the tail on the donkey, then live with the results. here's hoping that "old lady lesley" will remember what it was like to be "bachelorette lesley" and forgive me if i make a bad decision. right now it feels like i'm trying to figure out which plan has less loopholes, then i'll pick that one.

i wonder if i'm enough of a "lady" to be able to pull off the shoulder bag. hmm.

will i be strong enough to live without?

visceral

i'm so close to finishing hatch that i can almost taste it, but i know it's in my best interest to just leave it for tomorrow and begin my going to bed routine.

i'm so excited about this summer. i love the summer, it's a fantastic time of year. i've decided that as a special treat, i'm going to take myself to the screening room once a week until the fall. i did that several summers ago, because i used to volunteer there. i got thinking about how super it was to ride my bike down there in the heat and bike home in the cool dark, and to watch random foreign films in the front row by myself. i'm looking forward to it, and if all goes well, i'll be able to start this week. believe it or not, the hardest part about this new activity is making the time for me. it'll be hard to commit to it when i don't have to consider anyone else, it's easier to compromise my own plans if something else comes up. but i really want to do this, so i hope it works out. selecting the films will also be hard, i've discovered that movies at the screening room are a bit of a crap-shoot. sometimes they're fantastic and other times they suck. i hope i don't waste many visits on crappy movies.

i've also decided to window-shop at EVERY store on princess street (starting at barrie). to basically go in, look around then leave again. i realize that's weird, but i haven't been in most of the stores down there, and well... it's something worth exploring. not quite sure how long it'll take to check out roughly 50+ shops, so i think i'll have to use two saturdays – you know, pan down each side of the street on separate days. i think i'll spend the rest of my days doing peculiar, nonsensical things just for kicks.

every time i blink i have a tiny dream.

copper

this afternoon i took a stained-glass making class. it was really neat! at first it was really hard, i'm not really strong enough to make a good cut into the glass and i was thinking "man, i suck at this". but i got the hang of it, and really it didn't matter because you use a machine to smooth it out anyway. i made a butterfly. i really like it. i'd never used a sauder gun before, it was pretty cool.

i was surprised by my fellow classmates. they were all above 50 and most of them were men. i really didn't expect that at all. i'm not sure what's typical, maybe it was just my group. everyone was really friendly, although they liked to make jokes about birds and tools. i'm not really used to sexual jokes from seniors.

one of the men told me i should settle down soon. i let it bounce right off me, i'm getting used to comments like that and know i face a lifetime of hearing it. i don't really mind anymore. i think i've mourned and have moved on, now i know that i'm different, and i'm happy to be so. however, his comment got me thinking about people "settling down" because it's "time". it seems like such a bizarre concept. no one should "settle down" because they're "supposed to". that's really sad! where did these rules come from!?!? who has the right to impose a scheduled timeline onto someone ELSE'S life! several years ago, i took advantage of sleeping in on saturdays until 2 or 3 pm. this was generally frowned upon by just about everyone i knew, although melinda was pretty understanding about it, it just inconvenienced her as my housemate. but i don't do that anymore, i've grown out of that stage, but i'm so glad that i had that chance. my point is, i don't think people should be forced to be a certain way just because that's the norm (when i say this, i obviously am not referring to morality or parenting).

yikes! look at the time, terrence and helen are going to be here in 45 minutes and i need to clean my house.

i am thirty-two flavors and then some.

spector

as i lay on my balcony floor this afternoon, i wore a halter top and jeans. it was warm, with minimal breeze. it's funny to think that less than two weeks ago i was stranded in nunavut because of a snow storm. life is bizarre, and i love it :)

i do it for the joy it brings
because i'm a joyful girl.

placebo

i'm a good investigator, and i get a little thrill when i put the pieces together correctly.

i had to get a new gas tank in the batmobile today. ugh. i seriously considered just riding it out with the existing one, but decided it was worth replacing even just for the peace of mind.

sometimes i'm amazed.

the price of gas keeps on rising.

some robots came by excitedly, leaving five hamsters quietly jumping

my first night of jotting down my dreams was very interesting. i had at least 4 different dreams – all still quite clear in my mind when i woke up to go to pee at 5 am, but they began to vanish within seconds so i had to quickly write them down.

i was informed today that i get to go on a business trip to montreal in may. i'm very excited because i've been wanting to go to there, and i was determined this was the year to do it. i leave on a tuesday, and my business there concludes on the friday, but i've decided to stay in a hostel that night and come home late saturday night. how exciting, a 4 day trip to montreal AND my first time staying in a hostel. i'm loving this year of doing things i've never done before. what a fantastic idea that was!

i've reopened my balcony for business. i got my green camper chair set up out there, my little rug, and my pots in place. this was also the day i decided to let the cats out there for the first time. it's such an awesome space, it's seriously my favourite place to be. standing out on my huge balcony was a bizarre sensation because it feels like i'm some place i've been absent from for a long time, and yet it's my house! where i've been pretty much every day for the last two years!

i have this problem where i can't open my tea-ball. it's stuck or too tight or too damp, and i can't twist it open. it's very frustrating because i badly needed a cup of monks blend this evening, and was forced to make it in a small teapot and use a strainer. i guess it worked ok, but it's just annoying not being about to open it with my little weak hands.

i stole some tea from your house.

sometimes you know more is less.

metaphor

i've been blacklisted.

there's something wrong with my car. it appears to be leaking gasoline. uh-oh. my batmobile is kind of unusual, you need a tetanus shot from just looking at it.

it seems another 3 months has past, because it's time for me to get my oil changed AND it's time for another hatch. brenda came over to discuss the content and give me some instructions. while she was here we got talking about dreams, and she mentioned that she's started a dream journal. it's a really cool concept and i think i'm going to give it a try.

i'm also trying this new thing where i don't eat my dinner in front of the tv. while i was at beckie's place we sat at the table like civilized people, i liked it. it seems kind of weird to just sit alone at the table when i could be watching the tv, but i'd like to behave like a sophisticated lady instead of an adolescent boy.

exciting news! as usual, upon the completion of one vacation, i begin thinking about my next one. today i started making plans to go to australia in 2009. i'm quite excited even though i'm not going until november '09, that's a long way off. but whatever, it's still fun to have something to plan for and work towards. i just hope nothing will put a kink in my plans, i've seen vacation plans disintegrate when they're not in the near future.

i got a letter from canadian blood services in the mail. it thanked me for helping save the lives of three people. you know what would be cool... if they'd tell me which three people i helped save. maybe i'd like to know who i'm blood-brothers with. just a thought. maybe i should write them a letter in response and suggest it.

ok, i'm gonna go find a piece of paper to place at my bedside as a makeshift dream journal until i purchase an actual book.

they said, "which one is different? it does not belong".
they taught me different is wrong.

neanderthal

it's very bizarre to realize that i've spent most of my life fighting against normality, and yet still feel uncomfortable being an outsider. this is the bed i've made. i'm a freak. i chose this for myself and it's time i got used to it. i think i can. it's just a new concept to realize that i'm going to spend my life feeling like an odd ball. i won't ever be able to relate. my input and advise to others will be limited, that bothers me. i like to be helpful. it makes me feel childish, like everyone else is growing older while i stay the same age. but it's ok. at least i know this, sometimes i feel i could handle anything as long as i know what i'm dealing with. i'll get into the swing of things. that makes me happy. no scratch that, it makes me even happier. and i smirk.

hm.

my life feels like a lovely collage. darks and lights. i'm a gradation, a sliding scale, i can see both ends of the spectrum. it's kind of confusing. i feel neither this nor that. it's almost alarming, as though i'm incapable of feeling anything. i don't think that's true. i'm just caught in between. regardless of whether or not i THINK i should feel something... i just don't, and i like that a lot. i just feel good. content. and that's good enough.

it's a collage. my mind is a collage. and all of you are the subjects.

i don't know what i knew before,
but now i know i wanna win the war.

neutral

i'm crazy in love with summer. passionately and satisfyingly. however, spring is my season. i can't fully explain it. spring is the season i feel most alive in. i think it's because my heart begins to reawaken. my senses are poised for what is to come.

my pride lies panting on the floor.

so much present inside my present.

c

i worked today to make up for one of the three days i missed this week. how i'll account for the others is yet to be decided. i wasn't pleased about working a saturday, but it turned out pretty well. i wore the most comfy and work-inappropriate clothes i could find, and blared my music instead of listening on headphones. it was great. very liberating. equal to the freedom of walking around your own home in the buff. i kind of wish i had the entire office to myself EVERY day, it was probably my most productive work day in recent history.

when melinda and i went to pei last summer she wore a night mask all the time. i was finding it difficult to sleep, so i dug thru my cupboards and found an night mask that came part of a travel kit, and i started wearing it to bed too. my plan was to only wear it in the mornings when light streams thru the windows, but i've grown extremely attached to my mask that i wear it all night long. it was very handy to have up north, but i'm finding wearing it here at home more difficult. i wake up in the night and it's absent from my face and i mumble aloud "where's my mask? where's my mask?" often one of the cats had snatched is away. i don't like that. if forced to decide between my mask and my cats sleeping in my room, i'm going to pick the mask. melinda's is purple, mine is silver. i love it, it makes me feel like audrey hepburn or carrie bradshaw. nice.

russian is a very complicated language.

the truth lies.

crock

it was back to work today, and all went fairly well. i was hassled a small bit about missing 3 days, i felt kind of manipulated, but frank told me to just shrug it off, and that's what i'm going to do. the morning went slowly and i found myself looking at the clock more than necessary. i realized i usually spend much of my day glancing at the clock at the top of my screen, and i don't like that. anything i do compulsively and excessively is not good. so i decided to remove the clock from my taskbar and i felt much better for the rest of the day. it made it feel more like a regular day where i can get lost in my work instead of doing time.

i feel like i'm growing into my adult teeth. while i was away i discovered the delight of HOT tea instead of lukewarm tea. it's delicious and it doesn't burn my tongue like i thought it would. i also realized that big mugs take longer to drink and therefore the tea is cold when i get more than halfway down. so after work i decided to swing by dansk to buy a new work mug. i wanted something nice and snazzy, but also inexpensive. they had a VERY limited selection there, however, they did have plain white teacups with matching saucers. and i've been wanting a cup and saucer for some times now, so i bought one for $1.99. i'm quite excited and look forward to drinking out of it tomorrow :D

i'm currently uploading a crap-load of photos right now, it's taking forever. and they don't include beckie's photos which are really nice, so i think once these are done i'll go to bed and upload the devious ones tomorrow. for now... click here.

beck got me hooked on the show "weeds". she had the first season on dvd and i stayed up until 3 am watching it one night. so this evening i rented disc one of season two. if you enjoy shows that pushes the envelope, i strongly suggest renting this one from your local video store. but i must warn you, it was a series made for showtime, so it's incredibly uncensored. it's not for the faint of heart. it's definitely made my jaw drop more than once.

if i didn't know any better, i'd think you like to sneak back into my subconscious whenever i forget about you.

and you say "yeah, but why so cold, and so canadian".

taima

I'M BACK!

the winds of time were in my favour this morning and after a delay and a near missed connection i made it back to ottawa. hurray!

well, i've kept you updated about my travel perils, but i suppose i've told you little about my actual trip. above is a photo of me on during an afternoon activity of hiking up a large hill. this is not to be confused with my hike up duval (i'm going to be posting my photos on flickr tomorrow, you'll see duval pics then). i have to admit, even though i love the spring and i was exciting when i saw trees as we flew above ottawa... i miss the mountains, and when i look at this photo i feel excited because i think "there's kim and aus's house!" i had a really great time, it was grand adventure, a lovely escape, and a restful recess. i feel recharged and i don't mind the idea of going into work tomorrow, or of working on saturday.

i think i may have developed a liking for manicures, and it got me into some trouble.

she had a mark on her neck that closely resembled a hickey. hmm.

i hope i can transition back into my normal life without becoming too overwhelmed. i'm a little afraid i'll find myself back in the deep-end, drowning in kingston before i get my bearings. i hope not. i've learned a lot from my trip, from the surroundings, and from beckie, and i'd like to apply it all to my life. i'm very glad i had the opportunity to experience the north :)

i'm looking forward to seeing you all and getting caught up on everything :)

see what you want to see.
you should see it all.

dash

i finished my shrug this evening. you know... make good use of my time and all. at first i wasn't sure what i thought of it, but now that i've been wearing it for a couple hours, i really like it. it makes me feel super sexy.

it's highly possible that i'm leaving for ontario tomorrow, but as i've learned, nothing in life is certain. so i won't put to much faith in first air.

aside from the 3 day delay in arriving, and the 4 day delay in departing, i've had a lovely time. hahahaha. what a nutty time it's been. quite an adventure in more ways than one. that being said, i'm looking forward to spring in kingston, and to not wearing winter boots until next november.

i've been thinking on how quickly i adjust to places and locations. after a matter of days i'd adjusted to my surroundings here in pang and felt perfectly at home. it feels completely natural being here, as though i've always been and always will be (but let's hope not). i've felt this way before, on other trips, in other surroundings. i wonder if everyone is as versatile. i feel like i slip into experiences as one slips into the tub. i think my ability to be "all there" may make me more trusting than some. i'm not hesitant and i'm not anxious. hm.... thoughts to think about further.

sometimes because i'm technically unattached to my friends and family, i doubt my significance in their lives. several people told me they'd miss me while i'm away, and i can't help but feel that after enough time i'd be forgotten. well... not forgotten exactly, people would remember me fondly, but i wouldn't be missed after the initial adjustment period, and that makes me sad. however, then i got thinking about people who i know who've moved away or grown apart from and i still miss them. so maybe i'm not as dispensable as i feel sometimes.

man, i've got to go eat some lime tositos now. that was the worse use of 7 bux ever. melinder – i wish you were here to eat them.

i'll bring the sun to you when i come.

nauseous

my second attempt to leave pang has failed. i'm going to try again tonight. and probably again tomorrow. the prognosis is not good.

i miss you guys.

exit

my flight home today was canceled due to weather. this is the first day of poor weather since i've been here. i find it ironic, beckie says its just the north. at least this time i'm stranded in pang.

it's ok, i'm just disappointed that i'm having to use more vacation days. i'm currently scheduled for monday morning. i should be back in ktown that evening.

in the meantime, here are some of beckie's photos:
this is one of me and beck mid-way up duval.

and this is one of me on a ski-doo at yesterday's spring picnic.
it was only -2º!

hope you're all well. i need to go call my parents, then play some boggle :)

i've been stranded in the combat zone

mandolin

i'd never climbed a mountain before. not even in the summer, but we'd been invited along with beckie's friend mike to climb mount duval. we accepted his invitation and decided to go on beck's 30th birthday.

as we headed out, climbing the first of many false summits (i believe there are 13 in total), we were pooped, and all three of us were secretly thinking "i don't want to do this", but we carried on. i was hopeful that once i built up some momentum it would get easier.

i was dressed in full winter gear, snow pants, parka, toque, seal skin mitts, many layers, but quickly discovered that along with getting really hot and sweaty from climbing, it was also a fantastic day out (a high of -13º). so i tried to peel back my layers as much as i could.

as we climbed the town below got smaller and smaller, while duval seemed to get larger and larger. the trip was estimated to take 3 hours to reach the inukshuk at the top, then 1 hour to slide down. i was worried that my tiny bladder couldn't hold out that long, but it did, even though it actually look us closer to 5 hrs to climb, and an hour and a half to come down.

as i've said before, the artic is beautiful, as we sat on the ridge eating peanut butter sandwiches we could see for miles this expansive wilderness. it's enough to blow your mind. what a privilege it is to sit and take in such a view.

beckie is a clever girl, who pleasantly surprises me at every turn. i was so delighted at lunch time when she took out a thermos full of hot tea. i've never had such a lovely cup of tea in all my life. however, she only gave me one cup full and promised me another one when we reached the top. i swear, at times, that cup of tea was the only thing spurring me forward. i hit the wall so close to the top and i was ready to quit and climb back down, but beckie had new found motivation and kept plowing ahead. mike kept telling me "you can't just climb 90% of a mountain, you've come so far, don't quit now!", so i plowed on, knowing a cup of tea was waiting for me. it was like a carrot before me. thankfully, i remembered i had my ipod in my pocket, i pulled it out and danced & strutted the rest of my way.

when we finally reached the top, the view was unparalleled and worth every step.

at the true summit, i drank my cup of triumphant tea and beckie flashed the artic. we figured that was excellent way to usher in her thirties. i'm pretty proud of her, fricking awesome. i can't imagine a better way to celebrate one's 30th birthday. i've got less than 2 years to come up with something cool.

we slid down the mountain on our bums, riding the snow like waves. it was amazing to think sections that had taken 20 minutes to climb had only taken 20 seconds to slide down.

we arrived back at beckie's place in time to cook a big meal for 14 people. everyone had been invited for a fancy, semi-formal dinner. it went very smoothly and was also lots of fun. by the end of the evening tho, we were both quite pooped. sore, tired, and our faces were sunburnt! i never expected to get a sunburn in the artic. at first i thought it was nice to have some colour in my skin again, but now the burn looks blotchy and there's some distinct tan lines from my sunglasses.

pictures to follow shortly. i should be home late late saturday night barring any storms or mishaps.

i run to the rock