Current mood:

amused

Climbing out of the rabbit hole to celebrate my birthday
Il fait longtemps, non?

So a few weeks ago, my laptop adapter gave out without warning and lacking any obvious signs of damage -- my computer-eating-field strikes again! :oP Without the convenience of my computer and the wonders of wireless, getting access to the internet has been a bit of a pain in the ass, lately. The past-week was pretty rainy at times and Friday saw the end of my week+ of eight days in a row on the job, so much of the time I just haven't had the energy to make my way even as far as UQAC to use the internet lab.

My apologies to anyone who might have marked my absence as odd.

I don't think there's anyway in hell that I'm ever going to get around to describing what went on during our programme. No great loss to the world, but it means I won't have a record of this year as I did last year, for when I get old and nostalgic, with the events farther removed from me.

The past five weeks have been pretty all right -- not without their rough spots, but it's been coming along. My job is tougher this year (have I already mentioned? I'm a tour guide at the Pyramide des Ha! Ha! in La Baie -- I'd say at least 90 percent of my tours are in French, maybe a little less since I do all of the English tours if I'm working as my co-workers aren't comfortable enough in English for us to each take our proper turn when Anglophone clients show up). I've been under stress at points and besides which I've been having a streak of a bad luck that peaked (I hope) when I left the keys to the Pyramide back at my apartment, Thursday morning. Still, it has been good experience, and the work is pretty rewarding and fun when things are going well. My tour has actually gotten rather good, if I do say so myself -- my customers generally seem to enjoy themselves and get all of their questions answered -- and it has been good for my French (if not as dramatically-so as last year). My customers have been very kind in complementing the quality of my French and the father of one family held me up to his children as a good example of someone who wanted to learn their second language ("comme il faut") and has succeeded with some personal effort; evidently, his son is no eager student of English. ^_^ Plus, it's been great seeing everyone at the musée again, and I'm not nearly so lonely this year, outside of work. Unlike last year when it was just me and my cold-fish roommates, this year I've got people to spend time with. I still have a couple of friends at the residence from the spring session (regular students of UQAC as well as Peter -- up until he left last night -- who was a studente in the spring session who paid to attend the shorter, three-week summer session as well), and I've gotten to know and made friends with some of the kids in the residence who're doing the summer session; plus, we haven't really hung out much outside of work or anything, but the anglos working at the musée this year are a lot more sensible and nice -- one of them is even from home, and friends with Emily's brother Tommy.

I even had enough good people around me to party it up proper for my birthday.

Friday evening marked the start of my three day weekend (which I arranged in order to celebrate my birthday as well as to get some needed rest.) I returned to Chicoutimi, tired beyond imagination but triumphant (after a pleasant day spent working in the airconditioned-offices of the musée, the product of which was an preliminary, rough English-translation of the info pannels inside the Pyramide, as well as a rather good English translation of the Pyramide guided tour script). À la suite of which I gathered up some beers and provisions and made my way to the UQAC residence, where J-F finally broke out the barbeque from the Spring session which I'd gifted him (it was meant to go to the students of the summer session, but they'd already bought a smaller, cheaper one on their own by the time I met them.) A fun, if relatively quiet, evening was had by all; other than the ones who headed off to Le Pub and the Agriculture Expo/Fair, but I hung back with a few folks in the hopes so as to save my energies in order to party on La Veille de ma Fête.

Got a little wilder on Saturday.

After hanging out for a few hours at the residence, I beat it home while a bunch of people made their way to the Bistrot du Fjord (favoured stomping grounds of Explore students on the grounds of it's proximity to the campus, ridiculous cheapness, and fun). After changing into something more appropriate and dropping off my stuff in my room, I bee-lined it to the Bistrot myself, in order to join everyone and take advantage of the $5 open bar on Labatt draft. I decided that my goal was to hit at least six (so as to have paid less than a dollar-a-beer) and I managed eight before the 1am termination of the deal.

Then came the dancing.

It was odd. While the drink special was on, most of us didn't hit the dance floor -- the dance floor itself wasn't that hopping, anyway. Just when I was finishing my last drink, thinking about doing a little dancing, maybe, but still seated as I awaited the return of a friend, a young, cute québécois in a green t-shirt asked me what I was doing and when I told him "J'attends juste mes amis". He then asked me if I planned to dance after, and when I responded in the affirmative he told me to look for him when I hit the floor.

It was sometime later before I did finally hit the floor (I went out for a breath of air, a puff, and a chat with J-F and some of his acquaintances, before a random anglo in town for a wedding convinced me and another girl to start dancing.) Sure enough, sometime after the visitor left, the québécois and his friends found me on the floor and started dancing with me. It was fun and hot (even though I bet they were really way too young for me) and went down a treat -- until I noticed they were taking pictures. :oP I was in no mood then to stop or change what I was at -- caught up in the moment I suppose -- but in the sober light of le lendemain de la veille I now can't help but worry and be at least a little embarrassed that there are probably drunken pictures of me dancing inappropriately with borderline-jailbait floating around in far-flung corners of the internet.

But what's a birthday without a good funny, embarassing story, hey? ^_<

All in all, not a bad birthday by half. Tired-or-no, I set out to mark the occasion of my turning a quarter of a century-old (closer to thirty than to twenty for the first time) by partying it up like I was still 20-years-old and I think and for better or worse, I think that's just what I managed to do.

For now, on the day of my birthday I've been taking it easy -- currently chilling out in one of my favourite cafés in the Saguenay. I plan on doing more of the same, tomorrow, before it's back-to-work on Tuesday. :oP

I'll see all of ye in St. John's in three weeks!