Eventually Clever

Weekend Roundup

On this birthday weekend, all I wanted was a nap!

My birthday began with opening gifts in bed with Dina and Ben. Naturally, Ben decided that everything belonged to him, and that everything was delicious. After taking a bite out of Baudolino, he turned to me as if to say "Daddy, Umberto Eco is a little dry."

I did pretty well in the gift department for an old guy: a book, Lost in Translation, The Road to Perdition, Prince for Persia for PS2, Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow, Formule Dé, a grey hooded sweatshirt and a CD binder for my office. Nice!

Then, I went out for breakfast, as is my Friday tradition, and went to the office, where my fellow designer and comic fan gifted me with a copy of Authority TPB #1: Relentless, thereby rounding out my Ellis kick. Sweet!

After work, I went home to the quietest birthday of recent memory. Guislaine popped over for a dinner of zucchini casserole and chocolate birthday cake (with tasty mint ice cream). Tradition demands that Guislaine be the first to arrive at any of my birthday parties, and she's maintained quite a streak. She gave me the most unexpected gift: Guy Gavriel Kay's latest novel, The Last Light of the Sun.

Who wouldn't want a Viking story for their birthday?

The evening was nice and chill, with a delicious dinner and great company and Ben making a grab for the lit candles. Good times.

After Guislaine left, Dina and I watched the final episode of The Office, as well as the documentary bits, and laughed ourselves silly.

We'll have a proper party when the apartment is ready for the housewarming, but not before.

The chill mood continued through Saturday morning, with Dina, Ben and I lazing about the apartment. In the afternoon, however, the activity level increased. First, I had to empty the basement of the old apartment and transfer the bookcases, boxes, old typewriters, etc. to the storage area of the new apartment. This was accomplished by hefting items over the fence separating the two entranceways, and then walking around the building to store them in the available space.

The whole process took three hours, during which time I broke only one piece of furniture, and sustained only one major blow to the head. These are good omens, I thought.

I had planned to clear the remaining boxes from the apartment upstairs on Sunday, but that was not to be. Chris and Fannie arrived in the afternoon to prep the apartment for their move. Leaving aside the impropriety of them not calling to let us know, that meant getting a move on.

Fortunately, Bill was there to help direct the incoming goods, and to help keep Dina and Ben calm during the process. She spoke very wise and reassuring words:

"From this point on, there can only be fewer boxes."

And that's important, because all the unpacking progress we made last week was soundly undone by bringing over everything that remained.

Saturday was a long, long day. And my muscles ached to the extent that I really couldn't fall asleep until about 1 a.m.

Sunday went much more smoothly. In the morning, I went over to the apartment pulled up the carpeting from Ben's room, removed one ceiling fan, and the light fixture from the hallway. As always, taking things out is much easier than putting them up. The hallway fixture in particular was a prolonged and annoying installation, so I was pleased to take it apart so easily.

Then, I tried to jump start my car, which has been stalled and frozen in ice on the street for the last week, using a car battery borrowed from my neighbour. No dice. Then, I phone CAA roadside assistance and had a guy come over. We tried a straight jump, but nothing worked. Then, he advised me to pump the gas pedal to get the engine to turn over. This would horrify my father-in-law, who loaned me the car, but it worked! The car started, and was able to drive right out of the ice, and then I took the car around the block three or four times until the engine stopped knocking. So much for that!

When I got back, we went to the mall. First, we went to Toys R Us to pick up an Exersaucer for Ben, so he can stand up and bat at things when he's tired of playing on his playmat. Then, we had lunch, and toured the mall. There was some splurging.

On our way home, we stopped off at Quantum Cards to indulge in some Initial D and Legend of the Five Rings splurging, and then went to Blockbuster to rent a DVD before my February coupon expired.

Once home, I tried to take a nap with Ben, but entered a two-hour cranky phase. So, no nap!

After he finally calmed down, we had dinner, and then watched Lost in Translation (and let me just say, Sofia Coppola can deny that Giovanni Ribisi = Spike Jonze and Anna Farris = Cameron Diaz all she wants, but that doesn't change what appears on-screen.) And then we crawled into bed.

This morning, Ben let us sleep in an extra hour.

Good weekend.

Posted by Stephen