and i'm... back in the game

Whew.... That was a long, hellish exam period. Let this be a lesson to you, kids: don't try to take six technical courses and direct a play in the same term. Can you spell "brain aneurism?" Good try. Now cross your fingers for passing...

On a related note, I now hate VIA with a blinding, flaming passion. Oh, and U-haul can come too. Yesterday, I was moving from Waterloo to Bolton and then coming home to Ottawa. Here was the plan:

• 10:00: Rent U-haul, pack my stuff, drive to Bolton.


• 1:00: Arrive in Bolton, unpack, drive to Toronto.


• 3:00 - 4:30ish: Arrive in Toronto, return U-haul, take train to Kingston.


• 6:00 - 7:30ish: Arrive in Kingston to meet my sister after her exam in order to drink forties of St Ide's (we're a classy pair) and catch a ride back with her to Ottawa the following day.

Here's what actually happened:

• 11:30: Get the U-haul rented after a late city bus and spending over 45 minutes talking to "the new guy", trying to make it clear that I wanted a small, one-way rental. End up with 14' moving truck.


• 1:30: Finally depart from Waterloo.


• 3:00: Arrive in Bolton after stressful, granny-like driving with no rearview mirror and big honking blind spots. Will I crush a civic when I change lanes? I don't know! I guess I'll just have to signal, wait 10 seconds and find out!


• 4:00: Landlady makes it clear that under no circumstances may I have mail sent to "her house", which just happens to house me in a basement bachelor suite. For an exorbitant rent. This necessitates stopping at the post office to set up a PO box.


• 4:30: Depart Bolton, head into stressful, granny-like driving through Toronto rush-hour traffic.


• 6:30: Pull into U-haul depot, after missing it twice due to it being completely hidden from view behind an overpass, and spending 15 minutes jockeying a 14' truck at a gas station.


• 6:45: Pull into U-haul depot for the second time, after a faulty gas gauge results in the tank still not reading "full" even though I caused it to overflow during the second gas station-jockeying escapade.


• 7:30: Arrive at union station to find that there is no train to Kingston until 10PM. Begin reading The Life of Pi.


• 11:20: Train begins to move after the "problems with the electrical system" have been worked out. VIA extends heartfelt apology in a bored voice over the static-filled intercom.


• 1:00: Train stops again, this time in Oshawa, this time due to a freight train using the tracks. Can only laugh hysterically as another heartfelt apology and an offer to credit 50% of the ticket price towards our next trip with VIA is issued by the same bored, static-filled voice.


• 2:20: Finally arrive in Kingston. Almost finished the novel I started over 6 hours ago. Have irrational urge to torture small animals.

On the upside, The Life of Pi is an excellent read.