Wanted: Peace and Clarity!

Southern Ontario has officially driven me to the brink of madness.

It's not just the fact that stuff here closes early, or stays closed on holidays or Sundays. It's not the insanely manic weather that doesn't know if it wants to be sticky hot or briskly cold. And it's not the job.

It's the lack of control over my life! Without a car, I'm at the mercy of buses, or friends who make me walk everywhere (you know who you are, and you know how many blisters and blister scars I have). I'm without Rod, I spent most of June broke, and I'm in a strange situation where I'm hypersensitive to being alone. My friends out here have done wonderful work in trying to keep me out of trouble (i.e. keep me busy!), but there's no one around at night to stop my overactive mind! Well, no one except an exceptionally large sucky-cat named Duffy :)

Maggie, my roommate, got a cat, and not just any cat! Duffy is a 20 lb ball of love. He was found abandoned in a Duffel bag in the middle of a park in January in Montreal. He'd been there long enough to melt the snow under the bag. And when I think of that story, it makes me incredibly angry and sad, but he's in a home now where he will be well-loved and cared for, and Maggie and Kai will never do anything so horrible as to just throw him away like that. And the little Duffster has taken to sleeping with me because he's quite rambunctious at night, and Maggie's a light sleeper, so she's had to shut the door on him. Not that I mind, since my cats at home sleep with me too.

I've also expanded my horizons (and taken in some big ones) by going to Toronto the weekend before Canada Day. It was the Toronto Pride Parade weekend, and I couldn't bear the idea of going without a Pride Parade this year. Being in Ottawa means I will be missing the fabulous parade in Vancouver, and guess what? The Ottawa parade takes place the day *after* I leave Ottawa. So when I saw the Toronto Pride Parade date, I twisted Steve's rubber arm into accompanying me to TO for some sightseeing (and what a sight it was!). I stayed at Gail's, and met the Castor Kids, Xena and Beano, who were incredibly cute, and reminded me of my own wee tyrants. I dragged Steve up the CN tower, and around the downtown area. And on Sunday, we stood soaking in the rain, waiting for the Parade.

The Good News: it stopped raining 5 minutes before the parade started. But I still got wet, as the spot we picked was beside a large contingent of gay men with those massive-tank supersoakers, with the pumps, and the water war was on with those in the parade also armed with water. It was a great time, and I fell in love/lust at least 4 times over the course of two hours.

The Bad News: I didn't get to do any shopping really, because Gail and Steve conspired to keep me away from the trendy, expensive sights. Brats.

Almost immediately upon my return, it was Canada Day, and they like to throw a lot of parties around here (something about being the Nation's capital or something *shrug*). I started the party on Tuesday night with Etienne, and managed to drink just enough that when I woke up after about 3 hours "sleep" (READ: passed out), I was still a little drunk when I went to meet Donavan, Adrian and Sally. We spent the day wandering from place to place in search of drinks, though I went dry for the day, given the condition that I started it in. But I survived until the Fireworks, and went home, happy to say that I did the Fete du Canada Ottawa-style.

Almost immediately after that, Rod rolled into town on his way back from Florida, and we've had a weekend filled with walking and walking and...walking :) I took him to see some sights, and a little shopping. I'll be sad to see him leave tomorrow, since it looks like I won't be returning to Vancouver as planned in July. Great...something else to ponder!

Ottawa, give me a break!