Whispers from the Myth Teller

Another successful St. Patrick's Day celebration has come and gone. The Brunch was well-attended (including sarahcarotte, yukonflower, talyesin, grrscary, un_roseau, and twilightbunny,) and the food was fantastic (thanks to Edith for the Scotch Eggs)! Not much of the food was terribly Irish, but we live in a multi-cultural city, so we had plenty of cultures at the table: bagels, scones, haggis, eggs, potatoes, fruit salad (although it was more like fruit soup), bacon, etc...

The party broke up around 11:30 am as we made our way to the Parade that started at noon. Ms. Carotte still can't walk, so we rented a wheelchair for the day. The unexpected affect was that many of the Parade walkers made a point of coming to Ms. Carotte and giving her special attention. It was great.

After standing and watching for a while, near the end of the parade, we decided to take advantage of a hole in the parade route and start walking in it ourselves (right behind the James Lyng High School float. We waved, danced, shook hands with folks, got the crowd to cheer a few times, and enjoyed the walk.

Once we hit University road, we stepped out of the Parade and made our way down to the Old Dublin pub. Surprisingly, the staff was very accomodating of the wheelchair and found us a spot to sit.

We spent most of the day at the Dublin before heading over to Ben's for some smoked meat. We then headed down to Hurley's to end off the night.

sarahcarotte and yukonflower headed home around 11pm, but Kensington stayed with me until about midnight. I stayed out until about 4am, coming home in a drunken stupor. I suffered a bit the next day, but this is the price I must pay for a little over-exuberance on my part.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Thanks to everyone who made it memorable. Special thanks to yukonflower for visiting and we hope we've planted a seed to get you to move to Montreal eventually.

This past weekend, a bunch of us went on the holiday we had promised ourselves in the summer. We were supposed to go to Cuba, but a series of unfortunate events led us to not being able to make it.

So instead, we went to La Sapiniere in Ste. Adele. Of course, this seems like the polar opposite of Cuba, but I've always been one to enjoy odd twists of fate. In the end, we had a great time in a luxurious cabin (complete with fireplace), access to X-country ski trails and snowshoeing, and evening meals that were prepared by some of the finest chefs in the province.

I really mean this. The food was unreal; I've never had such fantastically prepared meals. The company was great, the meals were heavenly, and the wine went down smoothly. So in the end, we traded the heat of Cuba for the finest of food (food in Cuba is reputed to be crappy anyways).

On the downside, I was involved in a snowmobile accident on Sunday. Gabbo and I were taking turns driving the rented skidoo and while I was a passenger, Gabbo lost control of the machine (trying to avoid a sinkhole that appeared on the trail) and it nearly flipped over (while heading for a tree).

While it was flipping over, my knee got caught in the snowbank and I was ripped off the back of the skidoo. It all happened so fast, but I think my leg got caught under the treads of the machine and it twisted my knee.

Before I knew what was happening, I was writhing on the trail, screaming in agony. Gabbo was also thrown from the skidoo, bruising his hip. He ran over to me to see what had happened.

"Did you break your leg?" he asked, unsure what to do. I tried to bend my knee, and although it hurt, I could bend it and I wiggled my toes. I've dislocated my knee before, so I knew how this felt.

I could feel my knee swelling up, but I rasped "No... it's not broken. Just give me a minute." Once I got my breath and composure back, I managed to stand on the injured leg. The crisis being past, I felt lucky to be alive. And to reassure Gabbo, I started to laugh and cried out "I'M ALIVE!!!"

So I'm hobbling about today in quite a bit of pain. No, of course I haven't been to see the doctor yet (another long story), but I'm heading out that way this afternoon.

sarahcarotte says I have a strong love-hate relationship with sympathy. That's true enough, I guess. I realize that I need help now getting my things done, but I hate being a burden to others. I hope I'm not sidelined for too long.

We've rung in the new year with pomp and circumstance, accompanied by fondue, sushi, fried chicken, champagne (with a frozen strawberry), and parlour games. I can't think of a better way to start the new year. *insert line break here (my Enter key isn't working)* And yes, this means I'm not in Cuba as originally planned, but other vacation plans are in the works. *line break* May 2006 bring you health and wealth; I hope I get to celebrate some of that with you in the next 12 months!

Please help me in wishing a Happy Birthday to sarahcarotte. We've been celebrating it all this week (with Jann Arden and BNL shows and whatnot), but please visit her in her journal and send her well-wishes for her day.

When this @#$@#$@ deadline is passed and the project has been completed, I'll be partying like it was on sale for $19.99.

Note: a couple of my friends have put this up on their LJs, so if you've answered it already, thanks!

I have a friend who is writing his master's thesis in Economics on the topic of "bads"--that is, goods which are bad for you. Part of his research involves a survey on smoking. Behind the cut below is a 44-question survey that I would like you to fill out. All of the questoins are yes/no or one word answers.

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When you have completed the survey, you can email it to Wailoo.Todd@ic.gc.ca If you're especially brave or helpful, you can cut and paste the survey and the address into your own journal and pass this along to your friends list. Thanks again.