F 1 D 0 -- 2001 12 30 at 10 30


>   So, exactly what do you do on your vacation besides
>   walk around a lake and make tapioca?

Let me see.

I try to exercise each day.
I've bought an inexpensive
membership to the Canada
Games Centre, also called
"The Rec". To buy a year
costs 450.00, but to get
a month cost me 29.00 -
I like that.

I bicycle. I'm one of four
or five people in this city
doing that. The roads are
great. The streets are safe.
The frozen air is not a treat.

I shop. I like small over big,
so I don't choose to head to
the big malls with Future Shop,
Sears, Chapters. (more on this
later, tho).  Often I buy things
that I don't really need, just
because I like the experience
of buying small things.

I cook. I try to cook every
day, and this place affords
me opportunities to do that.
I'm staying with a Vegetarian,
and so making things with meat
has been a problem. I crave it,
but if I want to have eating
company, I can't even use
powdered chicken noodle soup,
as it has too much chicken in
it.

I meet new people. This takes the
form of nightly parties and dinner
dates. It seems I have been invited
to one thing or another almost each
night here. We rarely get back before
100am, over full and exhausted from
yet another social thing.

I see movies. I've seen Harry Potter
again, and saw Lord of the Rings just
the other day. I've been doing movies
on nights we don't see people.

I do coffee. This is hard, as I
choose Starbucks as a coffee place.
The only one in Thunder Bay is in
Chapters, and that is right in the
heart of the big stores with big
suburban parking lots. Not particularily
close by for me, so I cannot just up
and go get a nice coffee.

I map. My hostess likes to help
me by taking me around in her
truck.  I prefer a slower pace.
For me to Map, I like to wander 
around a place I've not been, 
camera in hand.  I guess part of
the experience is seeing it with
new eyes. When I first catch
sight of something, I want to
record it as special. Mapping is
probably not the right word, but
it covers how the town changes from
foreign to personal. Once a place
has been effectively mapped, then
it is mine forever, and I'll always
be comfortable there. But there is
more to it, really. What I want to
see is sunshine. Sun on buildings,
sun on trees, sun on people. Oh,
I can cope with days sans sun, but
the camera's job is to find a nice
mix between sunshine and shadows
cast. I think.

I sleep in.  Today was an exception.
Normally, I rarely rise before 1100am,
and when I do, it is rarely before
930am.  Today I woke at 730am, and it
was desolate outside, but I saw the
sky change with time. It is like
watching a sunrise, without actually
looking for the sun.

I read. I've been doing mostly comic
stuff. I've done two books of Calvin
and Hobbes, and just started a Dilbert.
I have also been reading Diamonds, by 
Matthew Hart. I just got to the part 
where Eire Thomas has gone to see her 
dad. Both are diamond hunters and geologists. 
She's just discovered the biggest finds in
recent diamond history: two pipes
capable of producing 400M dollars
rough. In Canada. Annually. For 20 years.
Maybe.

That's all I know.