December 8–12, 2001 — The disease that you give

I slept until 3:30 pm this afternoon. Something is wrong with me.

But first, Saturday: I was still on my productivity kick and I didn’t leave the house or do anything along those lines that might distract me. I settled for setting up the R-Kade message board and writing my first short story in awhile. The message board is a bit lackluster, but it gets the job done; the story is mediocre at best, but it’s nice to be writing something other than journals for once.

I stayed up late reading All Families Are Psychotic, which is far better than anything I’ll ever write.

On Sunday, I decided that I was going to start using my iMac more. I went downtown and bought a three-foot patch cable so that I could connect it to the router on my desk, and I borrowed Andrew’s font and application CDs. It’s nice to not be walking back and forth between Andrew’s room whenever I want to make graphics for a Web site that I’m working on. And I’ll be able to layout the antigreg zine in my own room if I ever finish writing it (which looks less and less likely with each passing day).

While downtown, I went to the used bookstore next door to the World’s Biggest Bookstore. I found a copy of Women by Charles Bukowski that looked like it had been freshly stolen and that was being resold for a better price than even Dave’s store discount would allow. So I bought it, and I feel slightly guilty for it.

I spent the evening installing things on my iMac and cleaning my room. Johnston was busy cursing neurobiology as he studied for his exams.

As if hearing Johnston swearing about an exam wasn’t reminder enough of last year, I received an email from the vice-president of Gate House later in the evening. To be honest, I’m a little surprised that I even made it through last year without someone finding out about my journal through random searches for Middle House or Gate House or Burwash Hall on Google. At least now that it’s finally happened, I don’t really have to worry about it anymore.

Since the weekend, searches for “middle” and “gate” have become quite popular on the antigreg.com domain. So I think they’re on to me.

The fellow from Gate House who emailed me said that it was my bad luck for ending up in Middle House that caused me to be disillusioned by residence in general, but I think it was probably the other way around: I would have almost certainly been miserable regardless of where I ended up, and Middle House ended up stuck with me.

Now all that I need is for the Burwashian Sea Hag to track down the site. She’ll undoubtedly hunt me down, harpoon in hand, as she shouts threats in a voice that would turn the world off smoking if only opening a cigarette pack required hearing her speak. (Kind of like that oinking sound that some fridges make when you open them. But scarier.)

Dave and Matt arrived on Monday afternoon. We went for lunch at Amato’s and then drove downtown, taking full advantage of having a car to drive for the first time since we moved to Toronto. (Not that I would or could ever drive in Toronto, but Andrew doesn’t seem to mind.)

We parked at Elaine’s and walked down Queen Street. Dave and Matt bought CDs at Rotate This, and I bought the first issue of The Dark Knight Strikes Again at Silver Snail. Not everyone was as keen to be in a comic book store as I was, and comments along the lines of “Charisma plus four!” stayed with us for the rest of the weekend.

Before dinner at Elaine’s, we went to the World’s Biggest Bookstore because I wanted to abuse Dave’s discount by buying $160 worth of books at 30% off. There was much complaining during the walk, but I got my books (and felt shitty at having spent so much money).

We returned to Elaine’s for dinner. Andrew was exhausted and kept falling asleep. Elaine lent me some comic books. We eventually left, leaving the car in the basement of Elaine’s apartment because we can’t park on our street overnight.

At home, we watched 1.5 episodes of the Sopranos and then went to sleep.

We didn’t make it out of the house until around 2:00 pm on Tuesday. We were meeting Laura and her friend Karen to see Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone at 3:15 pm, so we only had time to eat and to walk to the theatre.

The Harry Potter movie was just as good the second time around. Dave and Johnston both want to read the books now, and inappropriate comments regarding Hermione were in no short supply.

We were meeting Elaine and Andrew for dinner after the movie. Unable to get through to them right away, we killed time shopping for hats and spending time in bookstores. We eventually met up with Elaine and Andrew and started on our way to the Java House for dinner.

I’d never been before, but it worked out quite well because while almost everyone else was getting exotic (to me) food involving noodles and tofu, I was still able to get a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. Quite a relief, really.

We went home and watched Detroit Rock City. I was fairly skeptical of the movie going in, but I ended up liking it. Apologies to Dave for making fun of his decision; Judgement Night and Willow will have to wait until next time, I guess.

And then today. I woke up to say goodbye to Matt and Dave before they left at 11:00 am or so, and then I went back to sleep. I slept far too late into the afternoon, and it was dark out when I got out of bed even though it was still the afternoon.

Back to work, I think. I need to setup a news script for the R-Kade Web site, and I need to get to work on a forum for mattbcomic.com. I’m also finally getting to work on Swivel Base, which, despite everything, I will find a way to finish. Honest.