oh boy. lots to write

Sooooo much has happened.

Two Tuesdays ago... Was rather boring. We had to be at school but there was nothing going on. So I probably shuffled some papers. It was really hot for packing that night.

Wednesday was the big move day. Of course we were short on boxes, so I had to go to the liquor store for more. That was 10 in the morning and already it was blazing hot. The movers were about 40 minutes late but that wasn't so bad. We just sat around for about 20 minutes with nothing to do. The movers, Jamie and Barry, were awesome. Jamie was the brains of the operation, Barry the people person. They got everything in the 6'X9'X12' truck for one trip. It was very close. We have a lot of furniture. They didn't even really need ropes to tie things in, it was that packed. We had to block a lane at Yonge and Wellesley at 6 pm to unload the truck. I'm sure we were highly unpopular. It took almost 4 hours and we paid $400, including tip. I was a bit shocked to learn that the movers make only $12/hour. It's heavy work, no breaks, and it was scorching hot. Doesn't seem right.

Luckily, there was a Canada-wide Sympatico system failure that night. It seemed like quite a coincidence that our service wasn't working the first time we set it up but that's what the problem was. I say luckily because that meant Dion was available to help move furniture and such.

Kevin and Su came over to see the place and kill some time before heading over to their new apartment while the tenants finished moving out.

I had been convinced that I would sleep like a rock that night because of all the work and the air conditioning in the new place but it didn't happen. I actually had a really hard time falling asleep. It felt a little like we were at a hotel. Rinsing plastic cups in the bathroom sink, living out of a suitcase.

Thursday was the last day of school and very uneventful. I think I shuffled furniture.

Friday was busy again. I went over to the old place to help clean while Mark moved out. It was a nicer day than our moving day. Then I went back to the new place and Jaclyn came over to visit. We chatted, went out to eat at the Friendly Thai, and combed the bookstores between Wellesley and Dundas. There are many. At the World's Biggest, I picked up two new science books. Then Dion came and picked me up (he had been uptown golfing and then hanging out all day). We went over to Bathurst and cleaned the fridge and picked up the last of our stuff. We spent the night uptown.

Saturday was the family gathering for the Canada Day long weekend. Pretty fun although Norman's friend Howard ruined the name game with long clues about an R-rated inside joke.

Don't really remember Sunday. must have unpacked. Same with Monday. Although I do remember that Dion was home because he inadvertently booked it off. Litter lost again I presume.

Last Tuesday, we left for Salt Lake City. Very uneventful travel except that our room wasn't ready at 2, when we arrived, or at 3, when they said it was supposed to be ready. Kevin missed the Magacity cake presentation waiting for the room.

Wednesday had the quartet quarter finals. Mirage's set didn't go that well in the afternoon. The Fixx's set in the evening was a little better. Hot Air Buffoons were a big hit, as were OC Times, a young quartet from the Far Western District (FWD) and Realtime, another young quartet from the Canadian West Coast.

Thursday was the chorus wildcard contest, I think. I really thought Megacity sang well and they did score just over 80% but it wasn't good enough. They finished 10th, which was their qualifying position. The top 6 made it into Saturday's contest. I think I got a workout in on Thursday.

Friday had the College contest and the regular quartet semifinals.. I was pleased that I was almost able to pick the CQC top 5. I had 1, 2, 3 and 5 in the right order and I really liked 4 but I didn't know if they would make it for lack of reputation. I got another workout in in the afternoon.

Saturday was a really long day. The breakfast was nice, as always, and very entertaining. The chorus contest was almost unbearably long. It started at 10:45 (I missed the mic testers and the first chorus) and ended over _7 hours_ later. The absence of a curtain was the main culprit, I believe. Even though the choruses weren't being judged while the lights were off, they all had formal ways of taking the risers and walking off the risers. I almost had the chorus contest picked correctly too. My order ended up 2,1,3,4,5. I thought the the Masters' ballad was great but that the uptempo was off. It might have been the hall's accoustics, which were disappointing. I couldn't make out the lyrics because of the stomping and box thumping, though I imagine it was not a problem for the judges. TNL's set was a big hit, especially the uptempo. All the mime gags got big reactions, too. Just bias, I suppose, that I had them in first. Alexandria was a little disappointing. I've always liked Alexandria until this year. Not that they were bad but I'm usually highly impressed.

The evening quartet contest was scheduled to start a little over an hour after the afternoon contest. Needless to say, we missed the start. Luckily, there was about and hour of pre-contest presentations and performances, so we didn't miss any of the competition, except the last quartet, Saturday Evening Post, which we skipped out on. Everyone was pretty excited that Realtime won and OC Times was over the moon with their 5th. I know that because FWD and Ontario cohosted a hospitality suite after the contest and OC Times and their supporters could hardly contain themselves.

Sunday was an uneventful travel day.

Yesterday, I did very little except for laundry until the game. Litter added a sorely needed W to the scoreboard. Dion came, I don't know if that was the difference. It was 17-14, I think.

Phew. I'm done.