The Countdown to the Trip Continues

Well, Paul, its good to see you have finally spoken! What people reading this blog do not know is that I had to sing continuously in order to get him to add an entry. He finally put one up just to get me to stop my caterwalling!

I can vouch for the fact that Paul has our itinerary planned down to the half hour. I must take this moment to remind Paul that he doesn't refer to me as "Princess Lori" for no reason. See, I am a lot more laid back than Paul and treat itineraries more as a loosely defined suggestion. However, beings that I will be in a place I have never been before, and may not ever get a chance to go back to, I figure my tardiness will go into remission for 15 days or so. Or at least that is what I am hoping. Maybe the travel immunization clinic will have a vaccine to combat tardiness, too.

Now here is a recap of what has happened this past week.

On Monday I braved the tourists and wandered up Yonge Street in search of temporary tattoes. I was in a rather large quandry because the tourists were getting in my way, and I found it rather frustrating. Then I reminded myself that very soon I will be the tourist getting in everyone else's way.

On my tattoe quest, I went into store after store, and the search for tattoes was proving fruitless. My lunch hour was dwindling short, so I decided just to go into one last store then turn around to go back. I asked the clerk if he had any tattoes of Canada flags or maple leaves, and lo and behold he did! He showed me one card full, but I wasn't really impressed with them. I said to him "Is that all you have? See I am going to the Olympics next week and want to wear them to the events" to which he responded "OMG ARE YOU COMPETING?" I took it as a complement, especially considering how out of shape I am and how old I feel most days. I almost said "Yes" to see what his reaction would be, and also to see if he would give me the tattoes for free. But I am a bad liar, and I was also worried he would try to find my name on a list of athletes that he was secretly holding behind the counter. I could only remember the names of two athletes going to the Olympics, both of whom are men, so telling the guy my name was Adam or Andrew really wouldn't have worked out well for me. I felt bad when I saw the look of dismay on his face when I said "No" but that feeling soon subsided after I forked over $15 for a bunch of tattoes.

Friday I was supposed to stop by Paul's place on the way to work to watch some of the opening ceremonies. My plans were thwarted by sleeping in, then by panicking over the fact I was going to visit my family near London and hadn't packed my suitcase yet. I got to work and freaked David my boss out by parking my suitcase outside my cubicle. He looked at it and said "You're leaving today? I thought you weren't leaving until next Friday???" I reminded David that I was a girl, and that tiny little suitcase would not even come close to holding what I would require for a two week trip. Then I alleviated his fears by confirming I was only going to my Mom's. He then pulled out his copy of the Globe and Mail and showed me the bare chested photo of Andrew van Koeverden on the front. I thanked him profusely, told him I would be busy in a rather unproductive way for the next little while. He laughed, but hovered and waited for me to return his copy of the Globe. I took it as a sign that I should stop my drooling and get back to work.

Shortly after 10:00 I decided to call Paul to find out how the Opening Ceremonies were. A rather frustrated Paul answered the phone and said "Nice of you to call just as Team Canada is walking in". This time I didn't even mean to torment Paul. But I hung up the phone with the satisfaction of knowing that I did. Its going to be a long 15 days trip! I hope Paul is up for it.