I'm a virus...
First (well, second, after asking how my trip went) thing said to me by my cubie-neighbor Kimmie this morning: "Guess what I'm reading?...Amber!"
2002-04-22
What I did on my weekend vacation
Thursday morning I woke up far too early from excitement and nerves. I dawdled around until the time came to go to the airport. I had breakfast at Tippin's, and went to the mall and bought three books.
I got to the airport at about eleven for my 12:55 flight, checked in and sat down at the gate to read the first of the books: Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin. I was laughing like a maniac the entire time. People were looking at me. An elderly lady next to me commented "Must be good". I said, "It is. It's also very rude," to stave off any idea that I might read her some bits. Not suitable for reading to strangers met at airports.
The flights were uneventful, though I found the necessity of changing planes (and airlines) rather obnoxious and stopping in Columbus nearly doubled my travel time to Toronto compared to the last time I flew there.
Liz was waiting for me in the terminal when I got out of customs. As I reached that point, I was kind of worrying about not recognizing her, but I scanned the room and there she was waving frantically at me. We hugged and kissed each other on the cheek and then didn't quite know what to do or talk about for the first part of the bus/subway/bus ride back to their place.
That first evening was kind of nerve-wracking. I could hardly eat any of the lovely meal Matt & Liz had prepared. I felt bad for that, but there was nothing I could do about it. My head was pounding and I felt a bit queasy. Finally the Advil kicked in and I began to feel better--just about the same time we all went to bed.
Friday morning we each showered and got dressed and went out to run some errands that she needed to accomplish, before going to Tim Horton's (a Canadian tradition, apparently) for coffee and a donut, and then proceeding to the Royal Ontario Museum. We saw dinosaurs and birds and bats and European interior design and armor, and then started getting hungry so we walked down to a sushi bar where she had sushi and I had sashimi and neither of us could finish our plates.
After lunch we walked back toward the ROM thinking of just finding a park bench to sit on in the sunshine, but the wind started picking up just as we were passing the Bata Shoe Museum so we went in. Liz had seen that museum many times but never gone inside. It turned out to be interesting in a sense: I've never followed history through shoes before! One of the main exhibits was lotus shoes (the shoes worn by Chinese ladies with bound feet). Looking at those tiny shoes squicked me. I kept thinking of Rosa's little feet being bound when she turned four, and of the fact that they are already bigger than some of those tiny shoes.
The museum closed at five, and we headed back to Liz and Matt's place with a stop at the supermarket to get dinner. Ribs and onion bhaji...mmm! After dinner we all watched History Bites, a skit based history show )this one was about Heloise and Abelard) and then Iron Chef.
Saturday morning we got up, relaxed for a while, had bagels with cream cheese and peach-passionfruit jam. Then the three of us went swinging at the park. It was a bit chilly but very nice. After that, I collected my things and we left for the airport. I hate the new security that prevents people from seeing each other off at the gates, though it wouldn't have helped in this case, as I had to go through customs right away.
I got to the airport at about eleven for my 12:55 flight, checked in and sat down at the gate to read the first of the books: Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin. I was laughing like a maniac the entire time. People were looking at me. An elderly lady next to me commented "Must be good". I said, "It is. It's also very rude," to stave off any idea that I might read her some bits. Not suitable for reading to strangers met at airports.
The flights were uneventful, though I found the necessity of changing planes (and airlines) rather obnoxious and stopping in Columbus nearly doubled my travel time to Toronto compared to the last time I flew there.
Liz was waiting for me in the terminal when I got out of customs. As I reached that point, I was kind of worrying about not recognizing her, but I scanned the room and there she was waving frantically at me. We hugged and kissed each other on the cheek and then didn't quite know what to do or talk about for the first part of the bus/subway/bus ride back to their place.
That first evening was kind of nerve-wracking. I could hardly eat any of the lovely meal Matt & Liz had prepared. I felt bad for that, but there was nothing I could do about it. My head was pounding and I felt a bit queasy. Finally the Advil kicked in and I began to feel better--just about the same time we all went to bed.
Friday morning we each showered and got dressed and went out to run some errands that she needed to accomplish, before going to Tim Horton's (a Canadian tradition, apparently) for coffee and a donut, and then proceeding to the Royal Ontario Museum. We saw dinosaurs and birds and bats and European interior design and armor, and then started getting hungry so we walked down to a sushi bar where she had sushi and I had sashimi and neither of us could finish our plates.
After lunch we walked back toward the ROM thinking of just finding a park bench to sit on in the sunshine, but the wind started picking up just as we were passing the Bata Shoe Museum so we went in. Liz had seen that museum many times but never gone inside. It turned out to be interesting in a sense: I've never followed history through shoes before! One of the main exhibits was lotus shoes (the shoes worn by Chinese ladies with bound feet). Looking at those tiny shoes squicked me. I kept thinking of Rosa's little feet being bound when she turned four, and of the fact that they are already bigger than some of those tiny shoes.
The museum closed at five, and we headed back to Liz and Matt's place with a stop at the supermarket to get dinner. Ribs and onion bhaji...mmm! After dinner we all watched History Bites, a skit based history show )this one was about Heloise and Abelard) and then Iron Chef.
Saturday morning we got up, relaxed for a while, had bagels with cream cheese and peach-passionfruit jam. Then the three of us went swinging at the park. It was a bit chilly but very nice. After that, I collected my things and we left for the airport. I hate the new security that prevents people from seeing each other off at the gates, though it wouldn't have helped in this case, as I had to go through customs right away.