The trip so far

All right, so here's what I've done during my "down time".

1. Went downtown Friday night. Walked into the Duke and promptly found two CBC and one Telegram reporter. Exchanged some gossip. Was asked when the book was being published.

From there, went to George Street for about 20 minutes and then, to paraphrase Bill Hick, filled my "Hump of Hate, because I am the Hate Camel." So I'm good on need to go to George Street for another couple of years. From there I went to catch Ron Hynes play at the Rose and Thistle. Nothing quite like catching one of Canada's best singer/songwriters playing essentially for beer money ($10 cover) at a pub. Heard him play "Sonny's Dream" and "Atlantic Blue" within 15 minutes of walking in. So that was all good.

2. Saturday went around the bay to see my grandparents. I don't think I'm really quite ready to talk about that in public. It's kind of personal.

3. Sunday went to see the only family I have left on my mother's side, which is my aunt, uncle and three cousins. Had chicken along with vegetables they pulled out of the ground they day before. I remembered that carrots are actually supposed to taste sweet. My god, it was good.

4. Went to Clarenville Sunday afternoon and had supper with my friend Pat, who asked me about the book. Exchanged gossip and snarking. All is good in the world.

5. Monday morning, went to the Packet offices. Was asked about the book by three different people, including the two new reporters who I had never met. Again, lots of gossip, stories and laughs. Also, I got copies of all my old "So Anyway" columns, which I might begin reprinting here on the blog in the near future. I meant to hit the road about 2:30, but didn't leave until 4:30. It was really, really good to see Barb and the gang.

Oh, and Barb gave the book its name. She asked what it was called. When I said I had no idea she replied, "I would have thought it was obvious. It should be called 'Paper Trails'."

God....Damn....It. God fucking damn it. It is 'Paper Trails.' I didn't know it until she said it, but it's the perfect name for the book. That's maddening. But she's that good, it really shouldn't surprise me.

6. Had supper and beverages with Andrea on Monday evening. Went to excellent pizza place cleverly called 'Pi'. I highly recommend it.

7. Spent the day going through comic book collection. Have managed to purge collection down from 25 boxes to 19 boxes. Which might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but I am getting rid of about 1,500 by my estimate from a collection that appears to have been around 7,000. So it's a start. Also had supper at my mom's house and saw a movie...."Appalossa", which was....all right. Could have been better, but it was entertaining enough.

8. Had lunch with my friend Anne, who asked about the book and gave me hints about how to handle the next one.

And now I'm sitting at Hava Java waiting until I go out for supper at Cathy's parents. And then this evening I'm going to the Duke to see if some of my friends will show up. I put out a call, but it's kind of last minute, so I don't know.

And that's the vacation so far. It's fun, don't get me wrong. But boy, talk about no rest of the wicked.