2006-06-03 12:31 p.m.

FUCK ME RUNNING - COLOSSAL BIRTHDAY ENTRY - THE END OF THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER

this has been an odd summer so far.

basically, everyone is gone, so i see laura everyday. and brigid and alex and (sometimes) wendy, but basically, just laura and ashley. it's actually pretty great. now it's just expected that we'll see each other every day. also, i was sleeping at her place a lot cause alex was in dollard, and she has a super sweet bed. also, i never feel like schlepping home from the plateau when there's a super sweet bed a few feet away.

also, i was housesitting for tanya for a week and bit. i think i slept at laura's half the time though.

i bought a bunch of groceries with the $60 marilyn gave me for housesitting, including these president's choice thai shrimp skewers i was going to barbecue. i was really excited. so i'm getting ready, rummaging through all the drawers in the kitchen to find a bbq lighter and other various utensils...pour some olive oil on a plate and as i'm walking it spills on my new shoes (vans slip-ons...i'm still adjusting). i get to the barbecue and open the propane valve thing. fiddle with the knobs for a bit. nothing. so i open it and it's absolutely covered in cobwebs. hasn't been used in years. so i cooked my shrimp in the oven and pouted.

my birthday, too. that was hilarious. it was after a couple of days of pinting with laura. i went out for dinner at that sushi place on parc i went to with brigitte, the best sushi i've ever had. AND it's bring your own wine, hello. so i got drunk and stuffed and exquisitely happy. had made plans with kim a couple of days back, when she came by laura's with sam and finally without making a conscious effort, my school friends and my city friends collided, and it went well. anyway. so when we ran into them kim mentioned a party and gave laura her email and i though "aw, new friends". and i was secretly happy that there was a party happening on my birthday so i wouldn't have to plan anything. i got an email from kim a few days later though, the day was changed to sunday and kim said it was no longer a party. so i was to call her after dinner with my parents.

so...flash forward to after sushi and after the majority of the contents of a bottle of wine. i go home for presents and cake. and some sitting, cause man, at least 15 pieces of sushi, a bottle of wine, banana cake with cream cheese icing and some dulce de leche...kept calling kim and laura with updates. met laura at her apt and we moseyed. i told kim that i'd be there around 10 but i got there at around 11:30. when i got there, it was kim and esperanza and chicken and sam, but then brigid walked out, then martina, then alex then wendy. each weirder than the one before. a surprise party?! i've never had a surprise party in my life! i was very very shaken. also, it was particularly funny because i would NEVER have introduced alex or wendy or martina to sam or kim or spanz because they would HATE each other. haha. so i left to smoke a joint, then i had a cigarette, then i got lightheaded, then i kindof stumbled, then i kindof crumpled to the ground. i'm not exactly sure what happened, but it happened before at the ryan adams concert. i think i was just really dehydrated. anyway, i was fine after 15 minutes of sitting and some water, but a lot of people had to leave right then because of summer school tests or something. so i laughed when i thought that wendy and alex's memory of my birthday would be of arriving at 9:30 at a stranger's apartment, waiting around awkwardly for 2 hours, having me arrive, smoke, almost pass out, and then leaving.

anyway. after they left and i moved inside, ajay came with some of his friends and chady too. random. apparently esperanza sent out an email to everyone on her contact list. brigid and martina left so it was just me and laura and a bunch of other people, some of whom i didn't know. then they started going around and introducing themselves; their names, program at school, interests...OH GOD NO. laura and i exchanged glances and luckily it petered out before it got to us. anyway, this is getting a little long and not nearly as interesting as i thought it would be. we went to saint sulpice and sat out at their enormous terrace for a bit and people bought me drinks. eventually people dissipated and me and laura stayed for a bit. i think i slept at hers.

then the next day, my actual birthday, it was 29 degrees and sunny as all hell. i had one plan - to lie down in a park. that's what i did. met up with brigid (who confirmed that yes, alex and wendy did not attempt to make any conversation during the two hours they were waiting for me to arrive at spanzy's) and we laid down in westmount park. i had wanted to put my feet in that baby-urine infested wading pool, but i don't think they're filling it anymore. sigh. i did have a dark chocolate haagen-dazs ice cream bar. fuck me running, that was good. and brigid's friend hannah bought be a huge popsicle from one of those ice cream bicycle carts that i've forgotten the name of. it was delicious though, and we all had blue lips afterwards. i went home for dinner and met laura for pints at saint-elizabeth. meghan came, that was great. i knew laura and her would hit it off instantly, even though meghan is 28 and married. but man, so well. we were there until closing and then we took turns riding her bike. well, i rode it, but laura was too short to get up on it. ahah. slept at laura's again.

and that's it. i've been pretty dirty this week, what with the unbearable heat and the sleeping at laura's and not showering in the morning and wearing the same clothes for another full day. i had no qualms with it yesterday, i looked great. that shirt was a great investment.

yesterday laura and i went for breakfast at that little portuguese cafe at the corner of her street for terrible chocolatines and okay cappuccinos. laura had been meaning to go there since she moved in and now was her last chance. i'm going to miss that apartment. it was great. i was there almost every day. slept there, showered there (only once), ate breakfast there, did pilates there once (HA), made a makeshift bong there, drank turkey and gravy-flavoured soda there...the memories will last forever i suppose. i have to say, i'm going to miss waking up in alex's bed, having laura make me some eggs and a toasted-with-cream-cheese bagel while i went to cafe depot and picked up some cappuccinos. that was really nice.

and now the summer's different. i'm jobless, laura and brigid leave for birthright in a couple of days, maia's home and gen will be home soon. i'm going to be hanging out with an entirely different group of people, not seeing anyone that i was seeing all this month. it's going to be hard not seeing laura.

i should get a job. but it's raining today (and yesterday and the day before were too hot) so that's my excuse. there are things i should be doing (making some dvds, figuring out the finances for my film, cleaning my room) but i think i'm going to have another bagel and watch some of the movies i borrowed from brigid.

i wonder what i'm doing tonight. i know what i won't be doing - smoking in a bar. i haven't been to an indoor bar since the 31st. this no smoking thing is really weird to me. luckily it's summer and there are terraces aplenty. and it means that come fall i'll probably quit smoking. there is no way that i will be standing outside in november to have a fucking cigarette. no sir. no way.

oh, and the olive oil stain on my shoe still hasn't come out.

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