Year: 2011

Smoky dreams

Nearly eight years after quitting, I find that still smoke a lot in my dreams. I Invariably end up having a cigarette just before I wake up. Then, when I’m in that brief half awake moment, I get really sad that I’d managed to quit for so long but started back. But a second later I wake up completely, realize that I never started back, and am very happy.

It’s a stressful but generally good way to wake up. And it reminds me how glad I am that I don’t smoke anymore.

Flying north

Sorry. The title is just a gratuitous Thomas Dolby reference. I’ll actually be driving north, which will be infinitely more fun–if no less expensive.

I’m getting very excited about my upcoming Canadian vacation. Considering how long it’s been since I’ve been all that excited about much of anything, that’s a pretty happy thing to say. Yeah, it’s been a shitty year. The worst ever. By far. So this should be a nice break.

The itinerary is being shaped by an outside force that I shan’t be naming right now (when I get back I promise) and it’s not completely solidified yet, but it looks like I’ll be in Buffalo visiting Sarah and Brad on the 8th and 9th, followed by five days in Toronto, three days in Ottawa, and a few more days in one or more locations that may include any combination of Montreal, Portland, and Schenectady.

It’s going to be a more urban trip to Toronto than the past two; I’m staying close in and am planning to do more walking and transit. Once out of Toronto, I’m looking forward to road tripping across southern Ontario and seeing friends in Ottawa (which I’ll be visiting for the first time) and upstate New York. I’M also planning to do a Stpehen Shore style diary scrapbook kind of thing.

And when I get back, I’ll have a very unique Canadian souvenir. But more about that later…