~ ANNE! ~

"Hooooome, where my thought's escaping
Home, where my music's playing
Hoooooome, where my love life's waiting silently for me..."

Replace "love life" with "crazy family and stacks of newspapers to dig into" and my sentiments at the moment are pretty much summed up. That's right, I'm back in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, and I have to say I'm pleased to be here. Everything is so overwhelmingly familiar (except for the few new additions to the town, which everyone complains about for a few years until they become old and therefore acceptable) that it's making me giddy. Same old streets, same old house (albeit with a shiny new paint job and a pink door) and same old comfy chair surrounded by tottering piles of reading material. Life is good.

(Give me a week, though, and I bet I'll be itching to get back on the road!)

I had a very nice weekend in Calgary visiting Darren. It was a bit odd to get back in touch after so many months of extremely sporadic communication, but it was great. Went to two parties, one of the quieter house variety (where no one talked to me) and one of the dance-around-in-your-pyjamas variety. This last I attended with Matt, a friend who historically I see twice a year, once at the end of August and once sometime around Christmas. He can really work the yuppie thing, but I was happy to see he can also hold his own quite well in an ancient red-and-brown housecoat.

The party, pleasingly, was in downtown Calgary at a restaurant called "Oh Canada". The decor was just as you'd expect (flags galore!) which pleased my newly-returned and very nationalistic self. It was a pretty good time considering I barely knew anyone. Luckily I had brought some flannel pants I found at Winners earlier in the week, so I was suitably attired.

Sunday was mostly devoted to devouring and digesting sushi (all-you-can-eat sushi! What a brilliant concept) and today Darren's parents took us out for dinner. I realized this weekend that it's been ten years since I met Darren as a kid at camp, so I guess his parents have gotten used to me showing up for meals once in a while. It was great to see them and his brother, at any rate.

On a more sober note, I have some thinking to do. I'm seriously on the low side, cash-wise (in any currency!) and am also having dental issues that probably need to be dealt with before I take off. Common sense says I should probably stay in Canada till I can make some money, apply for school, fix my tooth, etc. etc. Sense of adventure says that would be very boring and besides, my visa's ticking away and one only lives once. I'm giving myself a few days to think it over. But I'm already pretty sure what the outcome will be...

Ah well. The serious thought can wait for another day. Meanwhile, I've caught up with my mother, admired my dad's new stained glass creations, had an excellent homemade Orange Julius concocted by my brother Sam, and read two newspapers and three Archie comics cover to cover. I am going to climb into the big double bed in the basement I have all to myself, and rejoice that I'm here at all.

ps. my sister has indeed painted her room florescent green and yellow. It didn't make me puke, so I suppose it's not as bad as I expected...