2003-01-02 - 3:14
Scallops all around
Seemingly, I've left myself the entire holidays to recap. In summary, the trip home was almost exactly as expected, with a couple of added bonuses. It was a bit of a squeeze to fit everything into a week; but it mostly worked out.
In addition to the expected--getting my Christmas shopping done over the two days beforehand, doing the family thing, getting together with Liam again--I also caught one of Canada's tune-up games for the World Junior tournament, as well as a Buck 65 concert. My only real disappointment was finding out that the tournament mascot was supposed to be a sea otter. I had been convinced that he was the World Weasel (a name that I continue to insist has more zing). Ah well.
The Buck concert was the best surprise of the holidays. He did two sets, one solo and one with a backing band. Between songs, he was in prime storyteller mode. ("One guy looked just like Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers . . .") Actually, of the four times that I've seen Buck, that was my favourite concert; and it was cool to catch a show with Liam again, too.
After a week, it felt good to get back to Ottawa again. I managed to put the house to good use last night, inviting a crew over for a little New Year's barbecue. Greg and Kelly are the regulars here, of course; but that was the first time that I got to show off the place to Don, Cheryl, Chad, and Laurie. (Well, okay, Don had seen the place in its empty state; but it's slightly better now.) Since at least someone had a suitable reaction to the CD collection, I was satisfied. Heh.
After chilling here for a while, we finished off the year at Darcy's (our usual pub). The whole night was a lot of fun; and I'm definitely glad that I came back before New Year's, this time.
I was in somewhat of a burn-out/let-down mode by the end of the night . . . pretty much coming down after a busy holiday. Today was sufficiently relaxing, though--as in, I slept in and didn't leave the house.
I'm not headed back to work until Monday, so I should have ample time for further relaxation. Hopefully, I get up to something, though. One day of doing nothing and avoiding the world was cool; but five would be excessive.
J.