Notable

Besides the disaster that was Friday night, which I will stop harping on soon enough, my weekend was excellent. For several reasons, listed in chronological order.

1. Snowshoeing.
Yes, that's right, you read it. I have taken up a winter sport. Or, at any rate, I have gone once and enjoyed it thoroughly. They allowed me to get on my river path without twisted ankles and that filled me with joy. It is approximately one fuck load better than running on slushy C-town streets full of non-running pedestrians and treacherous puddles.

2. Shopping with Team Street.
My street, as Jennifer has written about, is like Sesame Street. Within two blocks, there are 15 adults, two children and two dogs that make up a loose knit team of Friendly Friends. On Saturday, I drove four of us out to ValVil and Fabricland. I bought a fondue pot, but not enough pokers for Team Street. Paul almost bought a ceramic snail. The Wren and Roho bought xmas stuff, so quiet, quiet. We laughed a lot and they were very kind when I stalled the car three times in a row, in traffic, on Baseline. I was in third, having forgotten to shift into first when I stopped.

3. Pizza and Beer and Reading and Sleeping
Friday afternoon I picked up a library book I'd had on request. When I got to the library and discovered it was Michael Chabon's newest book, I was so excited I jumped up and down in the stacks, and immediately set aside Saturday night for sitting on the couch and reading. Before that, however, and after the shopping, I made a pizza, Paul came over to help me and M-C eat it. M-C and I split a Guinness. They were both properly appreciative of my pizza-making genius. M-C went upstairs to work, Paul and I opened our books. I lasted longer than he did, but was closed like a light* by 11 pm. When I woke up at 11:30 to say goodbye to the departing P., I was thankful to find I hadn't been drooling. I didn't ask him if I'd snored.

4. Brunch
Benny's Bistro. Egg. Salmon. Potatoes. Capers. Aioli. Shelley. Yes, thank you.

5. Shopping with Shelley
We hit a couple stores on Dalhousie, I got a couple presents. We hit the mall, I got a shawl for myself. Topics of conversation: girls, boys, dating, cufflinks, flirting, travel, family, how lucky we are.

6. Come in, Come in
After a half hour at home, I went to collect J., and then we crossed the street to collect The Wren before heading off to the latest 160 Workshops. Both Mae and J. have done it more justice than I can. Roho and Safety Cat met us there; we all sat at the same table and laughed and laughed.

7. Milk
Team Street cut out a bit early from 160 to go to see Milk. We met up at the theatre with the Esses and M-C, and TK joined us too. It's a great movie. A bit pushy on the sentimentality at the end for my taste, but oh, it made my heart swell for that time and that place and how much easier it is now for queers, and man, do I ever want to go to San Francisco now. My bony ass didn't start hurting until 3/4 of the way through the movie. The mark of an engrossing film.

After, we said our goodbyes to TK, who lives over the canal in Sandy Hill. We headed west, picking the streets with the clearest sidewalks. The seven of us spread out, divvying ourselves into three smaller groups. Shelley and Steve our vangaurd; the Wren, Safety Cat and Roho our solid centre; M-C and me bringing up the rear. The Wren, or maybe was it Roho? perhaps Safety Cat?, turned around and said, -Hey, look at us.

I looked at us.

-We divided ourselves up by address.

We laughed and laughed.

* As they say in French.