31 posts tagged “vacation”
Home again. I spent some more quality time with Anita this morning. We mostly sat around taking up space at the diner - having breakfast, chatting, looking at pictures from her last vacation - then wandering a bit before her sister came to pick her up. I always get a big boost out of visiting with her. Visitors of pretty much any sort give me a boost, but especially her. She'll be spending the rest of her visit out of town with her sister and her sister's family. And speaking of sisters and their families, my mother left town this afternoon to visit with mine for a week. I'm now officially alone in the city. Now if only I had more trouble to get up to other than the doctor's appointment this afternoon! Ah well, there's always potential, right?
in the words of bugs bunny:
(poop, had a really cool pic for the art work)
I did make a few notes each day of the trip, but I just don't feel like posting it all yet. Instead, here's a pic that LBA just sent me. These are two of the servers in the main restaurant where we spent many of our meals, and most evenings (vino blanco [LBA] or cuba libre [me] anyone?). The guy on the left is JotaCe (Jean Carlos, or JC - pronounced HotaSay) - he was a real character and like most guys, was smitten with LBA. The guy on the right is Joan (pronounced JhoAhn). He didn't speak much English at all but loved addressing us as "caNAda!". Very sweet and attentive. We tipped them both a bit every day, and very well on the last two days.
I took three films while I was there so I have to put them in for developing (no, I don't have a digital camera). The majority of my pics are of trees and water and such, but I really hope they turn out well.
Just got home (a bit before 4am Saturday) - very tired, gonna sleep for many hours.
...that I forgot to post my sleep count!
Whew, what a day. Rushed from the minute I got to work until the minute I got home about an hour ago. One bonus is that the boss isn't going to Montreal tomorrow after all so I've got until Thursday now to make sure the files are in order. I thought it was boss who wanted me to go with him, but it turns out it's the client (I wish he had told me that ages ago, but maybe he didn't realize just how much they wanted to meet me). I deal with them so much but have never met any of them. When he told them today that he would be taking the train instead (due to possible bad weather on the way) and that it would only be him, they rescheduled the meeting for when I'm back! Colour me shocked! The only thing is that it's the day I'm supposed to be back in the office (the 17th). Instead, I'll be meeting up with the boss for a train trip to Montreal for the day. I like the train, and I'll probably bring my laptop to check out the ton of emails that will be waiting for me at work.
So I left work for the travel clinic appointment. Everything went pretty well, with hardly any waiting for buses. I stopped at Chapters and wandered around there for a while, picking out three books. I also couldn't resist a stuffed dog who was on sale for a whopping 75% off. His name is Big Schnozz and he just cried out for companionship. I'm going to bring him to sortaboss for his daughter. He's almost as big as her, but he really seems like the kind of stuffed animal that gets carted around everywhere by the paw. He's very floppy, unlike his picture below:
The walk to the clinic took about twenty minutes. The place was a bit scuzzy, but maybe it's just the area it's in, I don't know. There was a distinct aroma of BO in the air, but I guess I can only hope it belonged to someone in the crowded waiting room and isn't their usual ambiance. The visit was lickety-split. Got my first Twinrix shot, and the other two will be after I get back (after one month then after six months). Also got a prescription for malaria drugs. You're supposed to start taking them about a week before your travel, but the best I'll be able to do is tomorrow. I really didn't feel like stopping at my drug store on the way home to get it - by that time, I just wanted to get home. Unfortunately, the province doesn't cover the appointment or the vaccine. I'll submit them to my work insurance just in case, but I don't think they'll be covered there, either. I just keep telling myself that these are all one-time costs. The doc did ask me about tetanus but I know I've had that since I moved to Ottawa, which was not quite ten years ago, and the vaccine is good for ten years. They gave LBA a typhoid shot, too, but I didn't. The doc asked me if I was going into any rural areas, and as far as I know we aren't planning to. Turns out that's why he didn't give me the typhoid shot. They told LBA it was for stomach stuff. Ah well, whatever. Between the shot, the scrip, and the other pills I'm bringing, I'm not too concerned. Hep A and malaria were my worries, and those are now taken care of.
I pick up my passport tomorrow. Can't wait to see that picture again. Hopefully the little drug store in that building will fill my scrip for me while I'm doing the passport thing.
Tomorrow night will be busy - I'm psyching myself up for it now. I'm too beat to get much else done tonight other than take the garbage and cans out, which I've already done. I might clean the sink and toilet, we'll see.
Okay, I've got to wind myself down or I'll have another freaky night like Sunday and make myself sick again. I think this calls for a nice hot chocolate.
I think this is the last last-minute vacation I will ever book. I still have so much to do and thought I was going to squeak by with some very bare necessities (and yes, a lot of it is to do with my own laziness, so my anger is directed at myself, really). LBA went to a travel clinic this morning and got done what needed to be done, mostly, and has to go back for the last thing tomorrow morning (it was something they didn't happen to have in stock for her daughter). Turns out, it's a bit more involved than we thought in that they suggested an additional shot we hadn't thought about. Fine, whatever. I called a few minutes ago to make an appointment. I got one, miraculously, for tonight at 7pm, and at the same place - I would think all meds should be back in stock by then because I absolutely cannot go back for a second visit. The downside that has me in a state of anxiety? It's in a place that is not exactly close to work or home, and I take the bus. There would be no point in going home first, so I'll just stay late at work. By the time all is said and done, it will most likely be 9pm or later before I get home. You know, to do all that shit I thought I would be home by 5:30 at the latest to do.
I've actually calmed down a little bit, and again, I really only have myself to blame. I think what I will do is leave right away after work tonight and go to Chapters before the appointment. Luckily, there is one not too far from the clinic. It will give me time to browse and pick up some reading material for the trip, then have a nice little walk to the clinic. I think it should be about a twenty minute walk, but I'll have to check that out later to make sure. I had been planning on having my other stuff done tonight and tomorrow night, leaving Thursday night for browsing at a bookstore. I guess I'm just moving things around a bit, right? Dammit though, I'm kind of a planner when it comes to this sort of thing so that's why I've thrown myself into a tizzy. And again, IT'S ALL MY FAULT. Thirty-eight years old, you'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. Of course it also calmed me down a bit to realize that a lot of the running around/buying I've been doing wouldn't be repeated for another trip. LBA and I had a lovely little moment on the phone after I got my appointment - she laughing hysterically at the ridiculousness of everything (she's going nuts, too) and me cursing up a storm over anything and everything. It's all to keep from crying, kids, all to keep from crying.
Anyway, even writing this has calmed me down a bit more again. It's not like I can stop time so I'm just going to have to deal with all of this shit and hope my mother understands (yet again) the state of my apartment when she comes to feed the cat. I stress so much before every trip I ever take, and that would always be just to go home to visit friends and family. This out-of-the-country thing for the first time is going to be the death of me - well, maybe not because now I'm getting shots!
Okay, gotta get my face back into my work. Thank goodness again that I don't have to go on the trip with Boss tomorrow. Plus, I get a lot more done when he's not here anyway. As long as my presentations are done by the end of tomorrow, I'm golden. One should be finished this afternoon, and the other either this aft or tomorrow some time. Then it's just advising some clients of what to do while I'm gone and explain to a coworker the same thing.
And who am I kidding? Even if I had booked this months in advance, I'd still be runnning around because I'm just that much of a procrastinator! Off I go to think of where I'll be this time next week. Aaaaaahhhhhh....
