a well needed break

hey all. its been a while but i needed some time away from the blog. i joined a literary group on goodreads.com regarding hemingway's short stories and its been consuming my time. and justly so! let me know if you want to join and you can jump right on in.

my flatmate came back from her three week sojourn to ireland and the us, and thus the place is no longer just my own. but that's ok - i like the company and she's pretty fantastic. we get along real well and i'm grateful that i found such a compatible roommate. we've been hanging out these past few nights and its been fun. i'm teaching her how to cook some italian dishes and we've been sharing some red wine and some tea. i'm looking forward to thursday night because she and my coworker and friend bim are going to learn how to cook penne ala vodka. sweet lord...the last time i made it was when isabel and john were in calgary last may...so its time. i can only make this sucker once or twice a year, since its such an artery clogger.

today, i started playing badminton. holy crap. my ass and right shoulder will be sore tomorrow, so i'm thinking one killer hot shower tonight might help me a ton. then i can sleep in a bit tomorrow too. :) i played 4 doubles games and won 3 of them. the one we didn't win was by a small margin, so i feel pretty good. every tuesday, my coworkers rent out the gym at the gym (ha ha) across the road, and there were 12 of us out to play today. my first three games were with joe, and we decided to call ourselves joe squared, and we won 2 of 3. then i played with rob and we took on rich and dave...they're pretty hard core...and we actually won. ok, guaranteed, rich was playing with a broken racquet, but we did alright.

i have to say, i really like my coworkers here. in the past, whenever we did group outings like this, it was always such a specific group who would go, but here, literally everyone participates. from the young guns in their early 20s, to the older fellas in their 60s. and then there's people like me in the middle. bim makes me laugh - she's my nigerian italian (she claims we are one and the same and really, we're pretty damned close). joe is a super sweet guy and so nice. he just got back from his trip out home and he brought us all traditional holiday sweets. chris is hysterical, and he likes to mock my canadian-ness. rob is great - he has a touch of the devil in him. he kind of reminds me of stevening. rich is great too, and still friendly to me even though i have caused IT so much trouble (unlike other IT people i know, and i know you're reading this too, jackasses!). and then there is dave. i like dave, he kind of reminds me of sedan.

but i still miss my peeps at home. we had many good times, and i hold on to them dearly. and thanks for the notes of encouragement and msn messages to keep me in the loop (i hope logan has a great birthday).

oh, i've booked my trip to aberdeen! very excited. i'll hang out with gina and have fun with all her great friends up there. yay! must have fish and chips (no, can't eat the whale size) and minty mushy peas. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

peace out...and martin, only one SH for me today after all...