In Which Jessica Goes Home

A belated happy holidays and merry new year to all! I hope it's been pleasant. It probably wasn't if you're Saddam Hussein, but that's another story entirely and I'd be a little surprised if you're reading this, since you're supposed to be dead. But I guess the CIA is pretty amazing with the conspiracy stuff, so you could be alive and well and living in Aruba, and one of your seven doubles could have literally taken the fall for you. Just a suggestion.

ANYWAY. I'm not in Aruba personally, but I've had a pretty nice break. It was far too short, which gave me a few attacks of the blues since there just wasn't enough time to see everyone I wanted to see without running myself off my feet. There's never enough time.

I've lost my daytimer today and thus it is kind of a miracle that I even know where I am right now. Jacob called to go out and do something (e.g. go running) but my social life is cancelled effective today, except for maybe a few things I may do. This semester I am making my usual resolution to knuckle down in school and rock the house academically in order to keep my scholarship. At the moment the prospects there are looking questionable, because I am pretty dumb and spent most of last semester either going out and having fun or moping because I was not out having fun. It all hangs on the geography exam having been slain thoroughly.

That paragraph was definitely not about my break. I will tell you about my break. Highlights included:

- Coffee with Jane and Ella Hewes and with Margaret and Terry (in the same day, yet!)

- A night of festivities with Becca, Diane, Matt, Dave, and various others. Matt taught us a drinking game called Hoedown, which consists of a lot of pointing and shouting and at which I was good enough that it actually slowed me in finishing my pint. He then shamelessly used me and Becca to get the DJ at the pub to play Iron Maiden, but I got to pick the song so that was fine (Live to flyyyy, fly to liiiive, do or diiiiie). This was followed by a round of dancing at Stolli's where, unbeknownst to us, it was house music night. Good fun anyway, though.

- Games night at Tawnie's. I got to meet some of the people she tells me about online, and briefly I was not just a cyber-participant in her life.

- Mad good New Year's at Tom and Paul's ultra-spiffy townhouse, complete with basement Geek Room O'Tabletop Games'n'Musical Instruments and a terrifying furnace named Moloch. Think Super Smash Brothers, vegetable samosas, Pirates of the Caribbean, and a rousing game of Hoedown. I discovered that Meredith is definitely not the person I thought she was -- she doesn't even have curly hair, so somewhere out there is some curly-headed girl who I have mistakenly mentally labelled "Meredith: fencer, rather cool, dating Tom". Both the Victorias were also there and continue to be awesome people who make me giggle.

- Attending the New Year's Day concert at the Winspear with the Fambly. The concert was replete with Strauss and very lovely.

- Sisters' Demi-Day Out: sushi and a movie with my very favourite wee sister. Casino Royale is way too much fun, we agree. We decided to be health food terrorists and sneak oranges into the theatre instead of eating popcorn. Suck on that, Cineplex Odeon! However, our Porterfield sides manifested themselves simultaneously, resulting in ten minutes of gentle debate in the ticket queue over which of four movies to see before finally falling back on our original choice. "Oh, I don't mind. I don't know if I really feel like a drama, is all. But of course, if you do, I'll go along." "No, no. What do you want? I don't mind, really."

- Grabbing a delicious food court lunch with Katie on her lunch break. She seems to be in such a good place right now, it's delightful to see.

- Some quality good times with Colleen, who slept over the night she came up from Calgary. She's off to Hawaii on Tuesday (to celebrate my birthday, one assumes) and after that to heaven knows where on a theatre tour. Her life is so exciting and nomadic! Although I supposed Andrea has her beat for geographical reach. At the age of 20, she has visited 23 countries, since she spent the year after high school criss-crossing the known universe. Katie, Colleen, Lori, Andrea, and Heather all dined chez nous one night. I demonstrated my mad culinary prowess by throwing some frozen falafel in the oven and making a Greek salad and brownies. The homemade tzatziki was pretty darn impressive, though it was not exactly my doing. Lori grates a mean cucumber, and Mum makes a mean potato salad.

- Movie nights with both the Prattesses and Laura and Richard. Bon Cop, Bad Cop still kind of rules. Tabarnac!

- Brunch at the Sugar Bowl (yum) right before I went to the airport, to celebrate the fact that Bev and I were actually in the same city for eighteen hours or so!

That's about it. My flights were on time both ways, hooray. Stay tuned to JessicaWire for further breaking news, and have a pleasant tomorrow.