Tuesday, January 04, 2005
There is pi at last.
After my long long absence I have finally... returned.
Not without hardship though.
I swear to god either Greyhound hates me or... Northern Ontario wants to keep me forever. Or both.
So let me begin the posting of...
Footsteps - On Vacation
December 31st 2004
Dreams
I was asked by Angelis last night what my plans in life were. I told him of my desire to go to Waterloo as it was obvious he meant education/career wise. But thinking about school has got me thinking about other related aspects of my life... like my love life.
Often a fickle thing it has remained remarkably stable since meeting Andy last May. Often I've thought about where it could go and where I want it to go.
So now abandoning my usual preference for hypothetical scenarios I'm just going to write plainly and clearly about where I would like it to go.
The next 8 months January through to the end of August will be hard. They'll make or break this relationship. I'd like (and am planning to see her) as often as school work and finances will allow us to. I'm going to try for an early February trip and an April one (who goes where we'll decide then). March is a sure trip for me as it's supported and funded by my parents. May's trip is completely up to me to finance and it's possible. Not certain but with hard work and effort I can make it up there for a few days. June/July if her family goes on vacation my parents may (depending on where they go) decide to visit the same place if Andy goes with them. If not I may talk them into some camping near Timmins. There're campgrounds there that we haven't visited yet. In August she's going to try and come down for my Uncle Scott's wedding.
So we're into September. In my mind right now I'm ready to live with her. Thus I'd like for us to rent an apartment together possibly with another couple from Guelph (two bedrooms obviously). Someone she knows trusts and can live with. I've already checked it is possible to take a bus to U of W from Guelph. After at least a year longer whenever we're ready if the feelings remain and we haven't killed each other marriage is a possibility. Kids are after school for me when we're on solid ground financially and emotionally. A house something practicle at first but my dream is a large custom built house. Not overly large but big enough for a family of 6 who like to entertain guests overnight.
After that I have no real plans... I suppose we just love and cherish one another and live our lives the best we can.
This is my dream. Whether or not it comes true is up to fate I suppose. But it's what I want to work towards in life with her.
New Years
From the beginning of this trip it's felt like a dream. Somedays I take a look around me and cannot believe I'm here. Timmins Ontario. A town famous for being the birthplace of Shania Twain. Not heard of to most people it's become a famous place in my mind. Though bigger than my own hometown of Aylmer Quebec something about this place draws me. Perhaps it is because the two are so similar. Maybe it's just the experiance of finally living on my own managing my own money making my own schedule doing and seeing what I want when I want. 'Tis a huge difference from back home. Mayhaps you find this odd but I'm not homesick. I never had strong attachments to my family and perhaps this explains it. But it is also possible that this merely showns it is time. I'm ready to move on from the home-based life of a child and move on to the more independant life of an adult. But I digress.
It is also an awesome experiance to be able to call Andy or Freya and talk to them without worrying about long distance charges. Even more awesome than that is being able to SEE my girlfriend and my bestfriend. This trip is worth all the money I've put into it. It has renewed my faith in myself Andy and our love for one another and I hope we never spend this long apart again.
But now having had four days here I can say these feelings are truly real. There's no alcohol to cloud my thoughts no one night only together capped by a kiss. This is going to work.
I feel a need to record the events of the past days and what happens from here on in until I return to Ottawa.
Sunday
We left Cornwall around 9:45PM. Little bit later than I wanted to. Called Freya around 10:30PM to tell her the trip was still on. Got to the bus station at around 11:15PM. Forgot to tag my luggage. But basically this part of my trip was boring. Lets jump ahead to the exciting part shall we?
Monday
The bus left at midnight and ten. Mostly I listened to music and slept until we reached Pembrooke. About 10 km out of Pembrooke something up front started beeping like a warning buzzer and there's a red light blinking on the driver's board. At first I thought it was a little annoying beeper to keep the driver awake but it didn't stop. When we got to the next rest stop (a large Irving gas station/diner just outside of Pembrooke) the bus driver got out and took a look at something in the engine of the bus. He came back in a few minutes and said something about antifreeze leaking all over the road from his bus. He tries to fix it but he can't so he tells us we'll have to wait for another bus from Ottawa which could take two hours. In the meantime I went into the diner and had breakfast part one: poutine and coke. I talked with a girl who's name I never got who was going to Deep River from Ottawa. We talked about school music and the bus trip up to that point. Finally a new bus appeared at about 3:30AM (we were suppose to leave Pembrooke at 2:15AM.) After moving my luggage from one bus to the other I promptly fell asleep until we reached Mattawa (an hour out from North Bay about). We got into North Bay at about 7AM 2 hours and fifteen minutes late. The next bus to Timmins wasn't until 4PM (mine left at 6:30AM). I had breakfast part two: sandwiches I'd brought from home then went to look around Northgate mall which is right next to the bus depot. Looked around but nothing was open except the Tim Hortons so I had a hot chocolate. Went back to the bus depot at around 9am. I talked there with a woman on the same bus as I going to Kap (an hour north of Timmins) named Jessica and she wanted to organize 3 or 4 of us together to refund our tickets and rent a car to go to Timmins/Kap and she would drive. With another guy named David we got enough money to do so so we drove to Timmins leaving around 11am and getting in around 4pm. Considering the bus wouldn't have left until then I consider myself lucky. We stopped in New Liskegard for lunch. The hotel gave me a room for the night as they were fixing a hot water pipe in my room which was broken. I called Andy to see if she was busy - she was supposed to go over to her aunt's place. So I called Freya and then went over to her place. Was only there for a little bit when Andy showed up! Turns out her aunt canceled again so she decided to come over to Freya's place and surprise me. Needless to say I was very happy. We stayed there for an hour then we went back to my hotel room where we watched LOTR I on TV before she had to leave and go back to her place around 10:30pm. I went to sleep almost right away after walking her down to the door and taking a shower.
Tuesday
Went and tried the continental breakfast today - it's pretty good. I called Andy but she had to visit her aunt (didn't happen again but hey) then a dentist appointment and finally work occupied her day. So I went down to Timmins Square (about the size of les Galeries d'Hull) to see what they had and to look for a copy of Kama Sutra. After a few hours of looking and a call to Freya I finally found where I could buy one but they were closed by then so I went back to the hotel read a bit and then fell asleep.
Wednesday
I went out and bought a copy of Kama Sutra 1984 & The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. Then I called Andy who was once again busy throughout the day. So I called Freya to see if I could come over for awhile. She said sure so I went over and watched them play Halo II for a while and even gave it a try myself. (by them I mean Freya Angelis their roommate Pretok and his girlfriend Angel). Then we watched Terminator III and then Angelis got me on the computer to show me some of his programming. I asked to try it a bit myself (coding is a stress reliever for me) and he said sure so he was watching me make a binary clock and then asked me to write a program for him which takes sentences and parses them... seperates them at the spaces. As an example...
This is my test phrase.
becomes
This
is
my
test
phrase.
And then my program would put it back together. He then talked about a project of his and maybe me helping him on it. Rest of the night we talked about the project and related things. Finally I went home at about 11:30PM.
Thursday
I couldn't sleep at all so I read my book 1984 finished it and started the Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. Tiring of that story which is an erotic story about Sleeping Beauty being woken by her Prince and becoming his kinky sex slace I went to see Freya at her work at about 3AM. I got a hot chocolate and talked about some things that had happened while I was there. When she finished work she came over to the hotel and we talked about it and got some things straightened out before she went home to sleep. At around noon Andy came over. We talked about Freya and Angelis Angelis's project. We looked at what was on tv and LOTR II was playing so we watched that. We went over to Freya's at about 3:30pm then went down to the Square with them. Checked out Coles & le Chateau and I bought another book. We went back to Freya's where we had dinner with them and Pretok. Around 9 we left (Andy and I). We took the bus to her house (I went to walk her home). Arriving there she took me on a tour of her house and I got to meet her brother and sister. I stayed until 11:30 pm listening to music in her room with her. Got back to the hotel tried to read a book that Angelis had lent me about programming but found myself too tired so I promptly fell asleep at about 12:30pm.
Friday
New Years Eve. Andy's over at her grandparents and at her best friends with whom she'd made plans with long before now. So I went to Wendy's for lunch and there I ran into Freya and Pretok. Went to the A&P with them afterwards then onto Freya's. Fiddled around with my code and got it to work better then the party began. Angelis made superb garlic mashed potatoes and steak. They had besides me Angelis & Freya Pretok Angel and a friend of Angelis's - Nat. We got really really smashed (or at least Pretok and I did). Later in the evening Todd and his girlfriend Lisa (whom I know from the first party) came over. Finally at about 2PM Nat Todd and Lisa left and I was witness to a quiet disagreement between Angelis and Freya after Pretok and Angel had gone to bed. They went to bed at around three as did I.
Saturday
I woke up at around eleven called Andy at her grandparents. Turns out she had New Years dinner there and had to spend most of the day cooking so I spent most of the day at Angelis's. Washed dishes for breakfast made by Pretok and Freya. After eating we talked some. I played a bit on his computer then played Mario Kart on Angel's gamecube. Freya and I played cribbage (She won by eight points) and then she showed me her poetry book of which I read about half. It's good stuff. Then we were going to watch the Matrix Trilogy 'cause Angelis had to leave. Turns out he had a problem with Freya and I spending so much time together alone so I was asked to leave (or rather... I said if it was going to be a problem I would leave). We had an hour long talk before I left about Angelis and then I left just after eleven. At the hotel room I wrote most of this then fell asleep.
Sunday
Second last day in town. I woke up at around 9:30PM had their breakfast at the hotel called home then called Andy. She asked me to call back in about an hour after she'd talked to her parents about me coming over or her going out. I went out to Shoppers bought some batteries and nailclippers came back wrote in this then called her and was told I could go over until around six. So I went over by cab as they have no buses on Sunday. Made it to her place and got to talk to her mother a bit. We looked at pictures from her exchange trip to Switzerland/Italy then we had lunch and watched Dirty Dancing I. It was a pretty good movie. I must watch the sequel next time I see her or I may rent it. I took several photos and a short video of her. We talked a bit about stuff for next year then I left around 5:45PM. I spent the rest of the night reading listening to music and/or cleaning the hotel room as I was leaving the next day.
Monday
The room is clean my bags are packed. Andy'll be here in fifteen minutes for our last day together and then she'll be at the bus depot to say farewell (it's going to be a sad moment). I visited Freya again at her work last night for an hour. We talked about how tedious her work is her boyfriend and a bit about Andy & her problems with her parents. Freya seemed to think that her and I could make it on our own. I hope to run some numbers when I get home and see if it's possible.
Today's my last day in Timmins. I feel greatly saddened. While here with Freya and Andy I feel happy truly happy even with all the problems surrounding them. I'm going to miss them both one hell of a lot. On the plus side I won't have to live in a hotel room nor in this freaking cold anymore!
I've been writing the lyrics to various songs as they pop into my head or I hear them playing here and I find the lyrics significant or just particularly attractive in my current mood.
I'm sitting in the hotel lobby awaiting the appearance of Andy the Beautiful.
This experiance has left many impressions on me. It's increased my independance in life and given me a tsate of life on my own (albeit not a complete one) and quite frankly I've enjoyed it. I think this proves beyond a doubt that I'm ready to move beyond my family life and into the world. I've eight more months before I can do this but I'm fairly certain of my course of action now. Time to begin to live.
Five minutes then I'm going to call her.
Listening to the conversation between Freya and Angelis has given me insights into some of the financial issues as well as the pitfalls of a relationship together and I feel this will aide Andy and my relationship together should it come to pass that we live together. Of course the fact that Angelis and I are different people sould avoid some of the problems right off the bat.
Off to call Andy.
Monday (Cont)
Turns out Andy couldn't come over until around 1PM but she did. I gave her a neck/back massage and she returned the favor. We then left for Freya's burdened by all my luggage. We dropped all my luggage off around 3:30pm watched Angelis play Metroid for half an hour or so then we set off in search of dinner. We decided to go to the Square where she had Subway and I had A&W. We then decided to visit Zellers and pick up a toaster for Freya Angelis and Pretok. We then bused back to Angelis' place where I gave Andy a neck rub and lent her my sweater - the Dep sweater - until we see each other again... as a kindof souvenir of an awesome trip. We cabbed over to the bus station and waited a bit for the bus to come. All too soon it was time to get on the bus wiht tears in the corners of my eyes. My last words to Andy were "I love you" and my last gesture was the same. Watching the stores go by me as we left Timmins tore my heart out and brought tears to my eyes. Then after the first stop I fell asleep from pure emotional exhaustion.
Woke up outside Kirkland Lake about 2 hours into the trip (it's roughly 9:30-10 at night). I've four hours more to go on this bus and then 45 minutes waiting and then 5 hours to Ottawa. We're leaving now and I'm losing my light. I'll write some in North Bay our next stop.
We're in Earleton. I just called my father 'cause I forgot to before I left Timmins. It's almost eleven so we've a good 3 hours left to go before we get to North Bay. I've been replaying the highlights of the trip in my head for the past hour. All revolves around Andy and Freya though Angelis's job offer came as a nice surprise as well. I'll have time to think about it when I get home. His ideas are intriguing ones needless to say and I've been thinking about that as well on and off.
Anways we're on the road again. I return to my Sonata Arctica and will write more in North Bay Ontario.
Tuesday
North Bay Ontario. Anyone going on to Toronto you can stay on the bus or you can strech the bus will be leaving in about fifteen minutes. Anyone going onto Ottawa needs to transfer your bus will be here shortly at platform five.
Yeah... right.
Time of scheduled arrival in North Bay: 1:45AM
Time of bus leaving North Bay (Scheduled): 2:25AM
Only about 10 minutes between arrival and boarding right? Perfeclty reasonable.
Actual time of arrival in North Bay: 1:00AM
A full 45 minutes early.
So yet again I get to sit in this bus station which because of my past experiances in it I've come to hate.
But I suppose it's better than being 2 hours late.
95 minutes to go until my bus arrives and I can board.
I've slept most of the bus ride so far and I intend to sleep most of the rest. The sun rise should wake me 'ere we hit Ottawa.
It's been six hours since I left Timmins and it'll be five months before I can return. Two months and a week at most before I see Andy again. I'm saddened by my leaving her. This week has greatly strengthened my faith in our relationship which to be honest I needed. My faith was wavering as was pretty obvious by some of the close calls we've had. My faith may waver again but I now have a whole week of memories photos and journal entries to restore it all. The look in her eyes and this entire week will remained burned in my memory forever. From it's beginning with the bus breaking down to the end when the bus lets me off in Ottawa and everything in between. New Years Eve the party Angelis's job offer the looks in Andy's eyes her face her voice even her scent. Everything about her and this trip. It's been a truly awesome experiance definately a landmark experiance in my life.
Just announced:
The buses from Sudbury have left late the absolute earliest they buses will be here is 3am and probably not until leaving at 4am. As it is currently five to two this gives me two hours until I leave and an hour and a half later arrival time in Ottawa. Apparently I'm cursed whenever I travel. Two hour breakdown and I miss my connection now an additional two hour wait. I must call my parents.
Actual departure time from North Bay: 4AM.
Just called turns out my little brother is still up so I left him a message.
So I suppose that I'm going to have to entertain myself for the next two hours. Heck this has already wasted one hour suppose I can go for two.
I wonder if taking Greyhound is always like this.
On my list of top 101 things to do when bored out of my mind is: Take random photos.
Now playing: Meant to Live.
I'm going to take this journal and take out a few parts and then post it on my journals. After all the best week of my life deserves some publicity.
I'm just taking random pictures at the bus depot now. That's how bored I am and how little I have to write about. I just want to sleep but I can't dammit!
Time for more photos.
Well I'm up to 33 photos. To this I'll add some photos of Freya Angelis and Pretok and the photos of me plus photos I decide to take along the way.
There's a bus coming down the road so I'm stopping for a bit & packing up.
Success. I am on a bus bound for Ottawa at 3AM and we should be leaving at roughly 3:20 I suppose. So I should be in Ottawa at 8:20-8:30 only an hour late. So five hours late getting there (would have been 10-11 if not for a nice woman driver) and an hour later getting back. Next time I'll just fly.
So once the bus driver loads the luggage we'll be off again.
Halfway home middle of the night and I'm writing... more like babbling... written babble... wribble? Sounds like hiphopper lol.
wribble scribble with yo nibble-dibble schibble.
Whoa... I frightened even myself. No more of that.
The bus driver is still packing our luggage. *is wondering how the heck they're going to get all that luggage on the bus - it's about 30 big duffle bags & suitacses and the bus was already packed full.* I suppose they'll manage somehow. There's two other buses here packed full of people going to Ottawa or Montreal so maybe they can put some of our luggage on one of the other buses. Hopefully they won't lose any.
I'm looking at my luggage sitting out there alone with a few other bags that're all that's left.
M'okay I'm wribbling.
Well until I think of something to write about or I get to Ottawa farewell for there are no bags left and I suspect we're off soon.
Just a note it's now 3:45AM and we're still here.
So finally we're off at ten to four in the morning. The bus is full of people trying to sleep so I'll be turning my light off and finishing this in Ottawa or Chalk River.
Back in Ottawa finally. Been a harrowing experiance. I write as I'm waiting for my parents to show and pick me up it's getting close to 9am. To sortof summerize the past hours:
We stopped in Deep River where I called home drank a root beer and fell asleep again. I didn't wake up until we hit Renfrew. There were no stops made along the way and apparently the guy driving was like a maniac. The people going to Pembrooke/Petawawa/Chalk River/Carleton Place were needless to say very very upset as they weren't let off. In Ottawa I got off and was told my ticket was worth $3. After a little bit of arguing with him he finally decided to refund the full $56 value of my ticket. *is pissed*
But I'm home now and safe. The bus ride was okay in the end... just the transfer in North Bay is kindof sticky especially as it's being made at an awful hour in the morning.
I miss Andy and Freya already. I even miss Angelis and Pretok. I wish I could see Andy/Freya everyday but... hey that's what I get for living in Ottawa.
8 more months Dep... just hold on. Hold on.
But I'll remember and cherish the good times we've had together this past week and they shall be a solid rock of belief in my sometimes turmoulous sea of paranoia.
So... Andy... je t'aime beaucoup ti amo and I love you.
Freya I'll be typing your letter to Raven asap. Raven you'll be getting an e-mail from me with a letter from Freya to you in it as well as my own preface to her letter soon.
Angelis I look forward to hearing from you about your project if you're still interested in me being involved.
To all my friends here I am glad I'm back and can spend time with you now.
29 hours spent busing there and back (16 hours there and 13 hours back) 9 nights spent away from home: 6 in a hotel room 2 on a bus and 1 on Angelis's floor. I feel like ending with a parody.
7 nights accomodations: $575
Bus tickets to and from Timmins: $280
Food, meals and taxi fare: $200
Spending a week with the love of my life and my best friend: priceless
There are somethings money can't buy. For everything else there's Mastercard.
(truly ironic as my mom reserved the hotel room and bought my bus tickets with Mastercard. ha!)
So ends my vacation.
Part one of Footsteps - On Vacation is essentially a day to day record of what happened (with a few omissions) and all of that is what you just read. Part two is the collection of musings I had when I was there on various topics. These will be going in my private journal as they contain some topics that I don't want the world to read about. Part three is the lyrics to various songs which I don't find important.
So since I got back my mom took me out to Harveys for breakfast. I got home had lunch typed large parts of this then fell asleep. Came back on after a good nap and finished it. Had dinner with grandparents in there somewhere and also got a call from Sarah asking me when we were going shopping - tomorrow at 11am i'm leaving so I won't be around much because not only that but it's also Wednesday and I'm at PTY I believe (unless Sarah and I get involved in a good movie or something). Thursday my parents might be taking me out for supper or something.
The 12th I have to go into Heritage and register then we start back the 17th.
Just as a note for myself I wish to blog about the following in addition to copying several of the musings from my travel journal: university next year plans for school this year and financial stuff. also maybe a bit more on andy and I's relationship (if I haven't bored you all to tears on this matter)
So there you have it: 9 days of journal entries from me. I'm going to bed now.
Oh... Andy love: I went downstairs to watch Under the Tuscon Sun it was indeed playing so I started watching it. Unfortunately no one told me that two of our tv channels had been switched (like the information about what's playing shows as one thing but what's actually playing matches the information on another channel which is showing what this channel is supposed to be playing.) Thus I ended up watching most of Nine Queens before I realized that it wasn't the movie I thought it was and I missed most of Under the Tuscon Sun so I'm going to hope it's either playing again soon or that I can talk mine parents into renting it.
That's it for now. If I have time tomorrow I'll post the musings if not I'll do it Thursday.
*hugs to Andy*
Laterz all!
Not without hardship though.
I swear to god either Greyhound hates me or... Northern Ontario wants to keep me forever. Or both.
So let me begin the posting of...
Footsteps - On Vacation
December 31st 2004
Dreams
I was asked by Angelis last night what my plans in life were. I told him of my desire to go to Waterloo as it was obvious he meant education/career wise. But thinking about school has got me thinking about other related aspects of my life... like my love life.
Often a fickle thing it has remained remarkably stable since meeting Andy last May. Often I've thought about where it could go and where I want it to go.
So now abandoning my usual preference for hypothetical scenarios I'm just going to write plainly and clearly about where I would like it to go.
The next 8 months January through to the end of August will be hard. They'll make or break this relationship. I'd like (and am planning to see her) as often as school work and finances will allow us to. I'm going to try for an early February trip and an April one (who goes where we'll decide then). March is a sure trip for me as it's supported and funded by my parents. May's trip is completely up to me to finance and it's possible. Not certain but with hard work and effort I can make it up there for a few days. June/July if her family goes on vacation my parents may (depending on where they go) decide to visit the same place if Andy goes with them. If not I may talk them into some camping near Timmins. There're campgrounds there that we haven't visited yet. In August she's going to try and come down for my Uncle Scott's wedding.
So we're into September. In my mind right now I'm ready to live with her. Thus I'd like for us to rent an apartment together possibly with another couple from Guelph (two bedrooms obviously). Someone she knows trusts and can live with. I've already checked it is possible to take a bus to U of W from Guelph. After at least a year longer whenever we're ready if the feelings remain and we haven't killed each other marriage is a possibility. Kids are after school for me when we're on solid ground financially and emotionally. A house something practicle at first but my dream is a large custom built house. Not overly large but big enough for a family of 6 who like to entertain guests overnight.
After that I have no real plans... I suppose we just love and cherish one another and live our lives the best we can.
This is my dream. Whether or not it comes true is up to fate I suppose. But it's what I want to work towards in life with her.
New Years
From the beginning of this trip it's felt like a dream. Somedays I take a look around me and cannot believe I'm here. Timmins Ontario. A town famous for being the birthplace of Shania Twain. Not heard of to most people it's become a famous place in my mind. Though bigger than my own hometown of Aylmer Quebec something about this place draws me. Perhaps it is because the two are so similar. Maybe it's just the experiance of finally living on my own managing my own money making my own schedule doing and seeing what I want when I want. 'Tis a huge difference from back home. Mayhaps you find this odd but I'm not homesick. I never had strong attachments to my family and perhaps this explains it. But it is also possible that this merely showns it is time. I'm ready to move on from the home-based life of a child and move on to the more independant life of an adult. But I digress.
It is also an awesome experiance to be able to call Andy or Freya and talk to them without worrying about long distance charges. Even more awesome than that is being able to SEE my girlfriend and my bestfriend. This trip is worth all the money I've put into it. It has renewed my faith in myself Andy and our love for one another and I hope we never spend this long apart again.
But now having had four days here I can say these feelings are truly real. There's no alcohol to cloud my thoughts no one night only together capped by a kiss. This is going to work.
I feel a need to record the events of the past days and what happens from here on in until I return to Ottawa.
Sunday
We left Cornwall around 9:45PM. Little bit later than I wanted to. Called Freya around 10:30PM to tell her the trip was still on. Got to the bus station at around 11:15PM. Forgot to tag my luggage. But basically this part of my trip was boring. Lets jump ahead to the exciting part shall we?
Monday
The bus left at midnight and ten. Mostly I listened to music and slept until we reached Pembrooke. About 10 km out of Pembrooke something up front started beeping like a warning buzzer and there's a red light blinking on the driver's board. At first I thought it was a little annoying beeper to keep the driver awake but it didn't stop. When we got to the next rest stop (a large Irving gas station/diner just outside of Pembrooke) the bus driver got out and took a look at something in the engine of the bus. He came back in a few minutes and said something about antifreeze leaking all over the road from his bus. He tries to fix it but he can't so he tells us we'll have to wait for another bus from Ottawa which could take two hours. In the meantime I went into the diner and had breakfast part one: poutine and coke. I talked with a girl who's name I never got who was going to Deep River from Ottawa. We talked about school music and the bus trip up to that point. Finally a new bus appeared at about 3:30AM (we were suppose to leave Pembrooke at 2:15AM.) After moving my luggage from one bus to the other I promptly fell asleep until we reached Mattawa (an hour out from North Bay about). We got into North Bay at about 7AM 2 hours and fifteen minutes late. The next bus to Timmins wasn't until 4PM (mine left at 6:30AM). I had breakfast part two: sandwiches I'd brought from home then went to look around Northgate mall which is right next to the bus depot. Looked around but nothing was open except the Tim Hortons so I had a hot chocolate. Went back to the bus depot at around 9am. I talked there with a woman on the same bus as I going to Kap (an hour north of Timmins) named Jessica and she wanted to organize 3 or 4 of us together to refund our tickets and rent a car to go to Timmins/Kap and she would drive. With another guy named David we got enough money to do so so we drove to Timmins leaving around 11am and getting in around 4pm. Considering the bus wouldn't have left until then I consider myself lucky. We stopped in New Liskegard for lunch. The hotel gave me a room for the night as they were fixing a hot water pipe in my room which was broken. I called Andy to see if she was busy - she was supposed to go over to her aunt's place. So I called Freya and then went over to her place. Was only there for a little bit when Andy showed up! Turns out her aunt canceled again so she decided to come over to Freya's place and surprise me. Needless to say I was very happy. We stayed there for an hour then we went back to my hotel room where we watched LOTR I on TV before she had to leave and go back to her place around 10:30pm. I went to sleep almost right away after walking her down to the door and taking a shower.
Tuesday
Went and tried the continental breakfast today - it's pretty good. I called Andy but she had to visit her aunt (didn't happen again but hey) then a dentist appointment and finally work occupied her day. So I went down to Timmins Square (about the size of les Galeries d'Hull) to see what they had and to look for a copy of Kama Sutra. After a few hours of looking and a call to Freya I finally found where I could buy one but they were closed by then so I went back to the hotel read a bit and then fell asleep.
Wednesday
I went out and bought a copy of Kama Sutra 1984 & The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. Then I called Andy who was once again busy throughout the day. So I called Freya to see if I could come over for awhile. She said sure so I went over and watched them play Halo II for a while and even gave it a try myself. (by them I mean Freya Angelis their roommate Pretok and his girlfriend Angel). Then we watched Terminator III and then Angelis got me on the computer to show me some of his programming. I asked to try it a bit myself (coding is a stress reliever for me) and he said sure so he was watching me make a binary clock and then asked me to write a program for him which takes sentences and parses them... seperates them at the spaces. As an example...
This is my test phrase.
becomes
This
is
my
test
phrase.
And then my program would put it back together. He then talked about a project of his and maybe me helping him on it. Rest of the night we talked about the project and related things. Finally I went home at about 11:30PM.
Thursday
I couldn't sleep at all so I read my book 1984 finished it and started the Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. Tiring of that story which is an erotic story about Sleeping Beauty being woken by her Prince and becoming his kinky sex slace I went to see Freya at her work at about 3AM. I got a hot chocolate and talked about some things that had happened while I was there. When she finished work she came over to the hotel and we talked about it and got some things straightened out before she went home to sleep. At around noon Andy came over. We talked about Freya and Angelis Angelis's project. We looked at what was on tv and LOTR II was playing so we watched that. We went over to Freya's at about 3:30pm then went down to the Square with them. Checked out Coles & le Chateau and I bought another book. We went back to Freya's where we had dinner with them and Pretok. Around 9 we left (Andy and I). We took the bus to her house (I went to walk her home). Arriving there she took me on a tour of her house and I got to meet her brother and sister. I stayed until 11:30 pm listening to music in her room with her. Got back to the hotel tried to read a book that Angelis had lent me about programming but found myself too tired so I promptly fell asleep at about 12:30pm.
Friday
New Years Eve. Andy's over at her grandparents and at her best friends with whom she'd made plans with long before now. So I went to Wendy's for lunch and there I ran into Freya and Pretok. Went to the A&P with them afterwards then onto Freya's. Fiddled around with my code and got it to work better then the party began. Angelis made superb garlic mashed potatoes and steak. They had besides me Angelis & Freya Pretok Angel and a friend of Angelis's - Nat. We got really really smashed (or at least Pretok and I did). Later in the evening Todd and his girlfriend Lisa (whom I know from the first party) came over. Finally at about 2PM Nat Todd and Lisa left and I was witness to a quiet disagreement between Angelis and Freya after Pretok and Angel had gone to bed. They went to bed at around three as did I.
Saturday
I woke up at around eleven called Andy at her grandparents. Turns out she had New Years dinner there and had to spend most of the day cooking so I spent most of the day at Angelis's. Washed dishes for breakfast made by Pretok and Freya. After eating we talked some. I played a bit on his computer then played Mario Kart on Angel's gamecube. Freya and I played cribbage (She won by eight points) and then she showed me her poetry book of which I read about half. It's good stuff. Then we were going to watch the Matrix Trilogy 'cause Angelis had to leave. Turns out he had a problem with Freya and I spending so much time together alone so I was asked to leave (or rather... I said if it was going to be a problem I would leave). We had an hour long talk before I left about Angelis and then I left just after eleven. At the hotel room I wrote most of this then fell asleep.
Sunday
Second last day in town. I woke up at around 9:30PM had their breakfast at the hotel called home then called Andy. She asked me to call back in about an hour after she'd talked to her parents about me coming over or her going out. I went out to Shoppers bought some batteries and nailclippers came back wrote in this then called her and was told I could go over until around six. So I went over by cab as they have no buses on Sunday. Made it to her place and got to talk to her mother a bit. We looked at pictures from her exchange trip to Switzerland/Italy then we had lunch and watched Dirty Dancing I. It was a pretty good movie. I must watch the sequel next time I see her or I may rent it. I took several photos and a short video of her. We talked a bit about stuff for next year then I left around 5:45PM. I spent the rest of the night reading listening to music and/or cleaning the hotel room as I was leaving the next day.
Monday
The room is clean my bags are packed. Andy'll be here in fifteen minutes for our last day together and then she'll be at the bus depot to say farewell (it's going to be a sad moment). I visited Freya again at her work last night for an hour. We talked about how tedious her work is her boyfriend and a bit about Andy & her problems with her parents. Freya seemed to think that her and I could make it on our own. I hope to run some numbers when I get home and see if it's possible.
Today's my last day in Timmins. I feel greatly saddened. While here with Freya and Andy I feel happy truly happy even with all the problems surrounding them. I'm going to miss them both one hell of a lot. On the plus side I won't have to live in a hotel room nor in this freaking cold anymore!
I've been writing the lyrics to various songs as they pop into my head or I hear them playing here and I find the lyrics significant or just particularly attractive in my current mood.
I'm sitting in the hotel lobby awaiting the appearance of Andy the Beautiful.
This experiance has left many impressions on me. It's increased my independance in life and given me a tsate of life on my own (albeit not a complete one) and quite frankly I've enjoyed it. I think this proves beyond a doubt that I'm ready to move beyond my family life and into the world. I've eight more months before I can do this but I'm fairly certain of my course of action now. Time to begin to live.
Five minutes then I'm going to call her.
Listening to the conversation between Freya and Angelis has given me insights into some of the financial issues as well as the pitfalls of a relationship together and I feel this will aide Andy and my relationship together should it come to pass that we live together. Of course the fact that Angelis and I are different people sould avoid some of the problems right off the bat.
Off to call Andy.
Monday (Cont)
Turns out Andy couldn't come over until around 1PM but she did. I gave her a neck/back massage and she returned the favor. We then left for Freya's burdened by all my luggage. We dropped all my luggage off around 3:30pm watched Angelis play Metroid for half an hour or so then we set off in search of dinner. We decided to go to the Square where she had Subway and I had A&W. We then decided to visit Zellers and pick up a toaster for Freya Angelis and Pretok. We then bused back to Angelis' place where I gave Andy a neck rub and lent her my sweater - the Dep sweater - until we see each other again... as a kindof souvenir of an awesome trip. We cabbed over to the bus station and waited a bit for the bus to come. All too soon it was time to get on the bus wiht tears in the corners of my eyes. My last words to Andy were "I love you" and my last gesture was the same. Watching the stores go by me as we left Timmins tore my heart out and brought tears to my eyes. Then after the first stop I fell asleep from pure emotional exhaustion.
Woke up outside Kirkland Lake about 2 hours into the trip (it's roughly 9:30-10 at night). I've four hours more to go on this bus and then 45 minutes waiting and then 5 hours to Ottawa. We're leaving now and I'm losing my light. I'll write some in North Bay our next stop.
We're in Earleton. I just called my father 'cause I forgot to before I left Timmins. It's almost eleven so we've a good 3 hours left to go before we get to North Bay. I've been replaying the highlights of the trip in my head for the past hour. All revolves around Andy and Freya though Angelis's job offer came as a nice surprise as well. I'll have time to think about it when I get home. His ideas are intriguing ones needless to say and I've been thinking about that as well on and off.
Anways we're on the road again. I return to my Sonata Arctica and will write more in North Bay Ontario.
Tuesday
North Bay Ontario. Anyone going on to Toronto you can stay on the bus or you can strech the bus will be leaving in about fifteen minutes. Anyone going onto Ottawa needs to transfer your bus will be here shortly at platform five.
Yeah... right.
Time of scheduled arrival in North Bay: 1:45AM
Time of bus leaving North Bay (Scheduled): 2:25AM
Only about 10 minutes between arrival and boarding right? Perfeclty reasonable.
Actual time of arrival in North Bay: 1:00AM
A full 45 minutes early.
So yet again I get to sit in this bus station which because of my past experiances in it I've come to hate.
But I suppose it's better than being 2 hours late.
95 minutes to go until my bus arrives and I can board.
I've slept most of the bus ride so far and I intend to sleep most of the rest. The sun rise should wake me 'ere we hit Ottawa.
It's been six hours since I left Timmins and it'll be five months before I can return. Two months and a week at most before I see Andy again. I'm saddened by my leaving her. This week has greatly strengthened my faith in our relationship which to be honest I needed. My faith was wavering as was pretty obvious by some of the close calls we've had. My faith may waver again but I now have a whole week of memories photos and journal entries to restore it all. The look in her eyes and this entire week will remained burned in my memory forever. From it's beginning with the bus breaking down to the end when the bus lets me off in Ottawa and everything in between. New Years Eve the party Angelis's job offer the looks in Andy's eyes her face her voice even her scent. Everything about her and this trip. It's been a truly awesome experiance definately a landmark experiance in my life.
Just announced:
The buses from Sudbury have left late the absolute earliest they buses will be here is 3am and probably not until leaving at 4am. As it is currently five to two this gives me two hours until I leave and an hour and a half later arrival time in Ottawa. Apparently I'm cursed whenever I travel. Two hour breakdown and I miss my connection now an additional two hour wait. I must call my parents.
Actual departure time from North Bay: 4AM.
Just called turns out my little brother is still up so I left him a message.
So I suppose that I'm going to have to entertain myself for the next two hours. Heck this has already wasted one hour suppose I can go for two.
I wonder if taking Greyhound is always like this.
On my list of top 101 things to do when bored out of my mind is: Take random photos.
Now playing: Meant to Live.
I'm going to take this journal and take out a few parts and then post it on my journals. After all the best week of my life deserves some publicity.
I'm just taking random pictures at the bus depot now. That's how bored I am and how little I have to write about. I just want to sleep but I can't dammit!
Time for more photos.
Well I'm up to 33 photos. To this I'll add some photos of Freya Angelis and Pretok and the photos of me plus photos I decide to take along the way.
There's a bus coming down the road so I'm stopping for a bit & packing up.
Success. I am on a bus bound for Ottawa at 3AM and we should be leaving at roughly 3:20 I suppose. So I should be in Ottawa at 8:20-8:30 only an hour late. So five hours late getting there (would have been 10-11 if not for a nice woman driver) and an hour later getting back. Next time I'll just fly.
So once the bus driver loads the luggage we'll be off again.
Halfway home middle of the night and I'm writing... more like babbling... written babble... wribble? Sounds like hiphopper lol.
wribble scribble with yo nibble-dibble schibble.
Whoa... I frightened even myself. No more of that.
The bus driver is still packing our luggage. *is wondering how the heck they're going to get all that luggage on the bus - it's about 30 big duffle bags & suitacses and the bus was already packed full.* I suppose they'll manage somehow. There's two other buses here packed full of people going to Ottawa or Montreal so maybe they can put some of our luggage on one of the other buses. Hopefully they won't lose any.
I'm looking at my luggage sitting out there alone with a few other bags that're all that's left.
M'okay I'm wribbling.
Well until I think of something to write about or I get to Ottawa farewell for there are no bags left and I suspect we're off soon.
Just a note it's now 3:45AM and we're still here.
So finally we're off at ten to four in the morning. The bus is full of people trying to sleep so I'll be turning my light off and finishing this in Ottawa or Chalk River.
Back in Ottawa finally. Been a harrowing experiance. I write as I'm waiting for my parents to show and pick me up it's getting close to 9am. To sortof summerize the past hours:
We stopped in Deep River where I called home drank a root beer and fell asleep again. I didn't wake up until we hit Renfrew. There were no stops made along the way and apparently the guy driving was like a maniac. The people going to Pembrooke/Petawawa/Chalk River/Carleton Place were needless to say very very upset as they weren't let off. In Ottawa I got off and was told my ticket was worth $3. After a little bit of arguing with him he finally decided to refund the full $56 value of my ticket. *is pissed*
But I'm home now and safe. The bus ride was okay in the end... just the transfer in North Bay is kindof sticky especially as it's being made at an awful hour in the morning.
I miss Andy and Freya already. I even miss Angelis and Pretok. I wish I could see Andy/Freya everyday but... hey that's what I get for living in Ottawa.
8 more months Dep... just hold on. Hold on.
But I'll remember and cherish the good times we've had together this past week and they shall be a solid rock of belief in my sometimes turmoulous sea of paranoia.
So... Andy... je t'aime beaucoup ti amo and I love you.
Freya I'll be typing your letter to Raven asap. Raven you'll be getting an e-mail from me with a letter from Freya to you in it as well as my own preface to her letter soon.
Angelis I look forward to hearing from you about your project if you're still interested in me being involved.
To all my friends here I am glad I'm back and can spend time with you now.
29 hours spent busing there and back (16 hours there and 13 hours back) 9 nights spent away from home: 6 in a hotel room 2 on a bus and 1 on Angelis's floor. I feel like ending with a parody.
7 nights accomodations: $575
Bus tickets to and from Timmins: $280
Food, meals and taxi fare: $200
Spending a week with the love of my life and my best friend: priceless
There are somethings money can't buy. For everything else there's Mastercard.
(truly ironic as my mom reserved the hotel room and bought my bus tickets with Mastercard. ha!)
So ends my vacation.
Part one of Footsteps - On Vacation is essentially a day to day record of what happened (with a few omissions) and all of that is what you just read. Part two is the collection of musings I had when I was there on various topics. These will be going in my private journal as they contain some topics that I don't want the world to read about. Part three is the lyrics to various songs which I don't find important.
So since I got back my mom took me out to Harveys for breakfast. I got home had lunch typed large parts of this then fell asleep. Came back on after a good nap and finished it. Had dinner with grandparents in there somewhere and also got a call from Sarah asking me when we were going shopping - tomorrow at 11am i'm leaving so I won't be around much because not only that but it's also Wednesday and I'm at PTY I believe (unless Sarah and I get involved in a good movie or something). Thursday my parents might be taking me out for supper or something.
The 12th I have to go into Heritage and register then we start back the 17th.
Just as a note for myself I wish to blog about the following in addition to copying several of the musings from my travel journal: university next year plans for school this year and financial stuff. also maybe a bit more on andy and I's relationship (if I haven't bored you all to tears on this matter)
So there you have it: 9 days of journal entries from me. I'm going to bed now.
Oh... Andy love: I went downstairs to watch Under the Tuscon Sun it was indeed playing so I started watching it. Unfortunately no one told me that two of our tv channels had been switched (like the information about what's playing shows as one thing but what's actually playing matches the information on another channel which is showing what this channel is supposed to be playing.) Thus I ended up watching most of Nine Queens before I realized that it wasn't the movie I thought it was and I missed most of Under the Tuscon Sun so I'm going to hope it's either playing again soon or that I can talk mine parents into renting it.
That's it for now. If I have time tomorrow I'll post the musings if not I'll do it Thursday.
*hugs to Andy*
Laterz all!
// posted by Dep @ 11:10:00 a.m.
