Interesting Times

Hello everyone. I've had a most excellent time over the past while. Christmas was just as chaotic and fun as I thought it would be. Ava and Amia enjoyed the day and all their presents. They opened them in three shifts over the day starting off before we arrived there early in the afternoon. My parents and I spent a cheerful part of the morning with our neighbours Jim and Carol. We also opened our own presents. My presents included a new George Foreman grill and a coffee brewstation among others. Both of these will be very useful indeed in my new apartment. I've tried out the brewstation and it works quite well. I can also use it as a way of heeting water and getting it into a mug safely for hot chocolate or tea. I've never felt entirely comfortable pouring water from a kettle. I just tried making a cup of that Tezo Chai tea you get in tins as powder. It's supposed to be added to milk but I prefer making it and hot chocolate with water. The brewstation heets the water nicely and lets me get it safely back into the mug. It works far better than using the microwave. The powder disolved far better than it has ever done for me before. A thoroughly enjoyable cup. The grill ought to do very well with its removeable trays and only a single on/off switch to worry about. Very practical indeed. I'll be trying that out pretty soon and hopefully have it basically mastered by the time I move in.

Ava and Amia got a plethora of toys. It was fun hearing them discover it all. Dinner was also quite good. Turkey, potatoes, and all the tried and true trappings; What's not to enjoy? After returning home, I ended the day by listening to the dramatisation of The Blue Carbunkle. If there's a better more relaxing thing to end Christmas day with than a well-done Sherlock Holmes case, I have yet to find it.

Mom seems to be enjoying my gift of games which I installed on her laptop. She plunged into The Return to Ravenhearst and conquered it in something around twenty hours over the past little while. She has something like seven or eight more games ahead of her. That was probably my most successful gift this year. The talking globe is just a little beyond where Ava and Amia are at but that likely won't last long. They're very clever and curious little ladies. It'll be interesting to see what they think of their Uncle Mike's new apartment once I'm all settled in. Apparently, Dan and Alison don't know anybody else in an apartment so Ava and Amia have never been in one before.

New Year's Eve didn't turn out like I expected. Only two people turned up. Next year, I hope there'll be at least four or five guests to share the first such gathering in my apartment. Having said that, I should point out here that it's pretty much impossible not to enjoy yourself when such good friends as Mark and Wendy are there. We always end up having a good time. The charger to my netbook broke down but even that didn't throw me out of sorts too much at all. We ended up playing some Trivial Pursuit and generally chatting for most of the time after a delicious dinner from Swiss Chalet. That place has never let me down yet. Their chicken is unfailingly good as are their fries.

This week is something of a calm before the storm. I await the arrival of the replacement charger I ordered for my netbook. Until I've gotten some paperwork all filled out, I won't want to start getting too much stuff ready. Our appointment with Halton Housing to complete their side of forms and such is next week. After that's done, I believe there'll just be the leace to sign. Once that's all more in hand and I'm certain nothing is going to snatch this away from me at the last minute, I can proceed with more. Also next week, we plan to go to Vision Canada in downtown Toronto where I'll acquire a talking microwave and anything else which might prove useful in my new situation. A friend of my mom's is also interested in checking this store out. It ought to be a pretty interesting expedition.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping myself amused. Yesterday, I was listening to The Retired Colourman. Sherlock certainly seems to have a lot of my attention these days. Those BBC radio dramas are absolutely first-rate. At the very end of that particular adventure, I was very pleased to hear a brief statement by Adrien Conan Doyle who shared a little about his father and how Sherlock Holmes came from his very life and character. How many owners of the collection will have taken the time to hear that little audio treasure? Quite an enjoyable easter egg to discover. Here's hoping there's more. I haven't listened to all of the stories yet. The death world of Q9 has certainly eaten up some time in what has so far been a fruitless quest for victory over the game with medium difficulty set. I'm inching slowly closer though. Regarding Dragon Tavern, I've decided that I'll no longer pay any money for perks in that strangely adictive game of sheer chance. If I buy any games from now on, they'll be accessible ones for me, gifts for others, or games which are paid for once only. Over the past year, I've probably spent something near a hundred dollars on credits so that I could buy advantages for my character Eldrex. That's all fine and good when there's nothing else doing in one's life and no prospect of that lonely idleness coming to an end. Now, that situation is at last drawing to a close. A whole new set of possibilities for friendships, community engagement, and perhaps another crack at a serious relationship lie ahead of me. Any spare cash I might have can at last be far better directed. I have a chance to set down roots. That changes damned near everything other than my phone number and email address. I'll still keep on playing Dragon Tavern but only as a free player. As things are now, I'm within the top eighty players in Canada and second within my section of the different horoscope grouping in the game. I don't care overly whether I maintain that or not. There are other accessible games being worked on and other things to spend money on of far greater importance. I'll have a lot more to do in the days ahead. This is true even if I find the building devoid of new friends and find no way to further engage with my community. There'll be meals to cook, dishes to do, and my own place to keep clean. Just getting used to that will take me some time. I very much look forward to that. Having theorised for years about how I'd manage as a single man on ODSP, I'll finally get to put all that thought to the test. Although I would have much preferred a second crack at married life, an actual stab at batchelorhood will make for an interesting consolation prize.