It’s not often that I really enjoy a Quebec-made television show. But there is one I love right now! It’s called “Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin.” Sophie’s life is great on some levels (she’s just had a new kid, has a great gay best friend) but on other levels she’s hopeless (at work in her agency nothing goes right and her love life is quite rough). The show is light/cute/funny/sad… Somehow it gives me some hope… If Sophie can go through all of this and still be alive, I can deal with everything in my life too! It’s on Tuesdays at 21h on Radio-Canada.

15h55: I saw the first kiddie! He/she was dressed as a lion and walking on the other street perpendicular to mine! So cute!! Too bad he/she didn’t come here!

15h58: I just called my brother. I had sent him a cute Halloween card in the mail more than a week ago. He said he did not get it yet. But of course he did! The only thing is that he never checks his #$&@ mailbox in the lobby of his building!

16h07: It wasn’t raining all day. And now that the kiddies are about to go out to get candies it’s raining! Mother Nature isn’t so nice sometimes…

16h42: I just lit my pumpkin with a candle! It’s always a good idea to put some aluminium paper under the cap to protect it from the hot candle flame!

16h53: Still no kiddies… I think I might start eating their candies!

17h12: Ok… While waiting let’s remember my own Halloween soirees! I’ve always loved Halloween. I don’t remember all of my costumes over the years but a memorable one was a two-headed lady. My best friend and I got really big clothes from my fat babysitter. We were dressed warmly with our Winter clothes (because it’s cold in Blanc-Sablon) and over that we were both in the shirt… Two-heads pocking out of the head hole. I was on the right side, my right arm out of the sleeve, my friend on the left. The pant’s legs were big enough for us to put our two legs each into one of the pant’s legs. It looked neat but it was difficult to move around though! I remember my dad was driving us around a bit (because houses are a bit far apart in Blanc-Sablon) and getting in and out of the car was so hard! Funny though. That’s the costume/Halloween night I remember the most.

17h20: I got my first 2 little kids! A ghost and an elephant! So cute!! I’m happy!! This is fun!!

18h23: A motorcyclist, a unicorn, a 7up bottle, and another I forget! A bit older kids this time!! Yay! 4 more!

18h29: A scary witch!

18h38: A pirate and a baladi dancer.

18h43: A clown, a cop, a ghost and an escaped prisoner!

18h48: A monkey and a darked clothed baddie with a sword!

18h54: A tiger and a princess… Tiny Asian kids! Those are the cutest Halloweeners! The small ones!

19h03: A fireman! He was so cute!

19h07: While waiting for Halloweeners (I have 7 bags of candy left!) I am watching TSN… So this is off-topic… I was reading the news at the bottom and there was something about Rico Fata! I remember when I was into Junior hockey he was my favourite player… I thought he was so cute too! He looks so much older now than what I remember him like! But still good looking…!

19h11: Another witch! But this one had a more whimsical hat!

19h17: A daddy with his very young baby on his shoulders, dressed as a pumpkin! He had a video camera with him too, to record the kid’s first Halloween night!

19h28: 3 older kids dressed in black with some kind of accessories, couldn’t really put a finger on what exactly their costume was… Still gave them candies! 2 more candy bags to go and then this house is closed!

19h31: A cowboy!

19h33: Out of candy! (Ok… Well actually 1 left for me…!) And there was a huge group of kids coming to my stairs… I had to tell them there was no candy left anymore! So sad… I could have gotten more. But then again 2 hours of candy distribution is already a lot of time…

20h02: The final words… I am so glad I did this… Everything was fun!!! From picking up the pumpkin at the market, to carving it, to assembling a couple of Halloween decorations, to preparing the candies, to lighting the pumpkin and distributing the candies… Definitely something I’ll do again next year if I am still here…!

Yesterday I saw on Oprah this Aussie dude, “Juan Mann”, who walks around cities with a “Free Hugs” sign. He gives hugs to people who want a hug! It’s such a neat idea…

Here’s the video on You Tube. This is what opened the segment on Oprah… Looking at the video I knew it was in Sydney… Where I lived for a few of months! I miss that city! It’s so sweet to see all kinds of people and all kinds of hugs. And surfing some more on You Tube I found a ton of hugging campaign videos from all over the world!

I am now home waiting for the kiddies in costume wanting to collect candies. I wonder if I’ll get many. And at what time they will start coming!

Sometimes there are life events that you can’t control. They affect you and there’s nothing you can do about them. You can only deal with them.

The same event may affect two different people in two different ways. I wish it was possible for the different people to enter each other’s brains and see how it feels/how it is for the other. To better understand each other.

It is from these events that we learn sure… But dealing with them is tough. The day to day stuff is tough.

I’m doing my best.

I bought Gsus skirt I really really like when I was in Vancouver. It’s a shiny black so it would be perfect for tomorrow, to be dark and gloomy (Halloween)… But I don’t know what top to wear with it… It seems all of my clothes don’t really fit with this skirt… Grrr! I’ll continue looking in my closet/drawers and hopefully I can put a nice outfit together!

So I finally carved my Halloween pumpkin today! Here’s a step-by-step guide…

First set the pumpkin on a good work surface and make sure it’s clean.

Second start carving out the cap… Be careful!

Third take the cap off!

Fourth with a knife or a spoon take the middle stuff out… It’s sometimes tough, you’ll have to scrape it off…

Fifth put the middle stuff in a bowl on the side… You’ll use some of it later!

Once you’re done scraping it all out the inside will look nice and clean!

Sixth it’s now time to start carving out the face! You can either go free hand or mark it out to make sure your design works out nicely in the end!

Now it’s all done! A bit of tweaking with the face’s carving and voilà!

Seventh take out to seeds from the middle stuff, put them in a bowl and clean them thoroughly.

In the kitchen you’re left with seeds and pumpkin flesh. You can bake the seeds in the oven with some salt… Makes a good snack! And with the flesh you can make muffins, soup, or pie!

And outdoors you have a nicely carved pumpkin in the Halloween arrangement!

And one final tip… Watch out as the pumpkin can irritate your skin… It left mine feeling itchy and flaky on my arm! With a couple of good soap washes it was back to normal though!

I hate spam on my Weblog and Photoblog. I’ve tried to deal with it best I could but today I decided to take the extra steps! I installed Askimet on my weblog. I’m not quite sure how it works but I guess I’ll find out within a few days. I’ve also updated my Photoblog to the most recent version of Pixelpost which has more tools to deal with spam. With all this hopefully spam won’t be as much as a hassle as it was!!

Update: Since yesterday Askimet has already blocked 139 spam messages!! Nuts.

This morning I also did a load of laundry. I don’t put my nice clothes in the dryer… Not to ruin them… So I had them all hung on the drying rack which I put outside on the balcony. The only thing is that it couldn’t stay there very long… The heavy winds outside knocked it over! That’s not very good… I had to take the drying rack back inside. I wish I had a proper drying line, “une bonne corde à linge!”

I will now go shower and get dressed. Then I’ll head out to the post office to mail a parcel to my brother. Inside are souvenirs my mom and I bought for him in British Columbia.

And after that I will attempt to carve my pumpkin! I’m usually not so handy with a knife (according to my friend the cook anyways) but hopefully I’ll be able to do something nice!

I might also do a bit of homework. We’ll see!

I just came back from grocery shopping. I saw the Asian dude who owns the depanner next to my house there… He was stocking up on soft drinks for his store. I bought lots of fruit and veggies, and some quick fix foods because I’m not really in a mood to cook lately.

I also stocked up on Halloween candies for kiddies of my neighbourhood! I got a pack of Wonka candies (Rockets, Nerds, Runts, etc) and chocolate (Smarties). I will put them all in little bags. I remember when I was a kid I didn’t like toffees or nuts or other crappy candies. So I only bought yummy ones! And I’ve made 25 bags to give out!

Candies…

And they are all ready…!

The heavy winds outside today really remind me of Blanc-Sablon winds. Except instead of hearing the raging sea, the waves crashing on the stones of the shoreline, etc. I hear the trees leaves wigling around, the metal stop sign clinging and the usual cars passing by.

I think I really need to be elsewhere, do something new, get a real change in my life… It felt so good going away to Vancouver/Victoria. Like there was a lot more in this world to see, to experience, to feel. And now I’m back at my place, stuck in the old routine. And it reminds me of everything… And it sucks.

Tonight I went to the Montreal-Toronto game!

My tickets were in the Molson Ex zone. Usually I sit lower in the 200 section or so. And there it’s mostly adults/businessmen. It was quite a change in atmosphere to be in the Molson Ex zone! I liked it better! The game was like a big giant party with fans really being expressive about the action down on the ice… Cheering like crazy!

Some dude spilled some beer all over my coat while I was away between the periods of play. He apologized a lot and really felt bad so I couldn’t get mad. My friend said something funny about it too, something like “it’s ok, it’s a hockey accident”… It was cute. We got some food too during the game… The traditional hot dog and some beer.

First the leafs led 4-2, then the Habs came back to equal the game. After the 5 minute overtime it was still a tie. So they went to shoot outs! YAY! It’s so awesome this new system! Brings much more excitement to the game. And in the end my team won so it’s even better!

I’ve also added two new videos on my Dailymotion page. I put them together while bored in the plane ride from Montreal to Winnipeg.

My Vancouver/Victoria photographs are now online in the album! Check it out!

I started receiving spam letters in the mail from Reader’s Digest, asking me to participate in the sweepstakes. I don’t want to receive that crap. So I tried calling them to have my name removed from their mailing list. I was on hold for 45 minutes and didn’t get to a representative… So I ended up hanging the phone. I will try again later. It really shouldn’t be that complicated! I didn’t ask for this crap mail to begin with!!!

This morning I got up at 4h50. My mom wanted to make sure I wouldn’t miss the bus/ferry to the airport! We got ready and she and her boyfriend brought me to the Victoria bus depot, which was so close to the hotel! 2 minutes by car not even!

I bought a ticket from Victoria to the Vancouver airport for 41.50$ which included the ferry ticket. Quite a good price! Then we waited a bit together. As the bus arrived my mom made her goodbyes and left me! In the bus there was a Quebecer who now lives in Victoria. He was quite adventurous type which is neat! He and his friend had found sponsors to go on a mountain climbing trip in Argentina! He told me a bit about climbing, expeditions, etc. It’s neat! Takes a lot of equipment too because it’s really really cold in these mountains! He had 2 huge bags. I wished him a good trip and to be safe…

The bus/ferry/bus ride went alright. I spent my time on the ferry on the top deck looking at the sky go from pitch black to daylight and I also sat on a passenger deck to watch the news. Everything went on schedule… I arrived at the airport at around 9h30. I checked in… The lady at the counter didn’t like that my name on the ticket didn’t match the one in my passport. The problem is it’s too long… The 28 letters almost never fit on documents… She let me go but didn’t even say thanks, have a good trip, or anything! I hate unkind customer service people…

I then waited a bit… The plane was 15 minutes late boarding but we eventually made up the delay while in flight. On the plane I ate a sandwich I had bought, watched the movie “Devil Wears Prada” (for the second time, I’d seen it already in the cinema) and read my magazine listening to music. The man in the seat next to me was a bit annoying. He made a strange sound with his tongue on his teeth blowing air… Really annoying… Every 2-3 minutes he’d do a couple of sounds. It’s ok a few times but when it’s a tick and it lasts the 4 hours of a flight it gets annoying. He also had the longest nose hair ever! Ugh! I was happy to get out of that plane!

It took a while for my luggage to come out… The person who was picking me up was there already and I wanted to join him! I wanted to give him a hug! To tell him about my trip! Go home! Give him a souvenir I’d bought! Instead I had to wait by a carrousel and see the same red bag pass 20 times before I got mine! Finally I did get my bag and we were on our way to my home!

Now it feels a bit lonely at home… I just spent a week with mom, her boyfriend, her best friend, and husband… So always surrounded by people. I got picked up at the airport and dropped home… It would have been nice to hang out a bit longer with my “chauffeur” but we’ll see each other again tomorrow for a hockey game. I dread a bit going back to the routine again… I don’t want to feel sad and lonely anymore. I’d forgotten how it felt during this week away. I hope it doesn’t come back now.

This morning we had breakfast down in the hotel’s resto. I had blueberry pancakes with a side of bacon. I thought it was ok. My mom who’d ordered the same didn’t like them. Why? They were more the American style while we’re used to the French style. Still I love breakfast so!

Then we all got aboard the car and headed to a Provincial Park. It was a bit more inland than Victoria. When we got there though it was rainy so not really good for a nature walk! So we just drove back to Victoria where it was not rainy… We went to the castle. I really liked it! I love seeing how people lived back in the day and this was nice to see how the other half lived… The rich people!

After the castle my mom’s best friend treated us to a horse carriage ride, everyone but my mom’s boyfriend. It was quite informative and brought us in areas that we would not have seen otherwise, like the beautiful gardens and cute old houses neighbourhood.

After that we went back to see the 0 miles mark of the Trans-Canada highway. It’s neat to see where the road officially begins! Then off to the nearby seaside and a beach… It was funny when my mom and her best friend took a shoe and sock off to dip a toe in the Pacific Ocean!

Later we went to have lunch in a tea room. My mom and her best friend ordered the tea thingy which came with sandwiches, scones, crumpets, mini-pies, etc. My mom shared a bit of hers with me. I had a salad. The lady also forgot my hot chocolate so she said it would be on the house. It was a “gezellig” lunch! We laughed, enjoyed the food, the waiting staff were funny, the other guests helpful (offering to take a photo for us), etc.

Then the girls were dropped at the BC Experience, the only thing is that it was not opened anymore, it went bankrupt in September! The guys were already off to the Maritime Museum so we ended up just walking around town and shopping… Souvenir shops where I got a tshirt for my mom’s boyfriend, jewelry stores for my mom’s best friend, a beautiful paper store where my mom bought me a new agenda/day book (it’s funny! she found one identical to the one I have now but for 2007!) and I got some red wax for my letter seal. My mom’s best friend also got me a beautiful set of magnets for the fridge, very pretty hand-made in Canada. Then off to The Bay for pjs shopping for mom and her best friend’s daughter-in-law. All of that shopping done we headed back to the hotel.

After a rest out again for dinner! We first walked around the harbour area and saw the Parliament all lit up. It was pretty. Our resto was also in that area, called Milestone’s. It was jammed packed! I asked for a beer. The waiter asked to see my ID! Funny… The food was good, I had a chicken and sun-dried tomatoes penne and a hot chocolate for dessert (yep! a second one in a day!). A short walk and we were back at the hotel!