Gilly just e-mailed me a scan of a photo Mom mailed her today. It's a church photo of her and Dad taken in April. It was the last photo of them taken together.

Camp friggin' rocked. I picked Stacey up on Friday and ran a bunch of errands before setting off toward Elora Gorge. I started to feel sleepy very early on, and I warned Stacey that I'd need a napp on the way. I parked in Orangeville and we both napped in the car. I had only planned to stop for 30-45 miuntes, but we ended up sleeping for an hour and a half. We made a quick stop at Timmy's for some beverages and continued to Elora.

The camp site was great. It was mostly shaded and very roomy, although it had a road running by behind it so we had cars breaking the silence regularly. Still, it was very pleasant. We set up two tents and marvelled at the awesomeness of the brand new tent we'd gotten from Dad's Visa points. It's marked a 6-man tent, and actually looks like you could sleep 6 people in it. It came already seam-sealed and waterproofed so my lack of preparation of the fly didn't matter at all.Yay!

Once set up, we went out for pizza at a nearby pizza joint. We also bought a few items from the convenience store. When we got back to site Gilly had arrived. Cheese, Matt, and Sandra arrived an hour or so later and we built a fire and toasted cupcakes over it on forks. We went to bed late, although I don't recall what time. Gilly said Cheese kept grabbing her hip and bum all night, and he claimed it was to steady himself so he wouldn't roll off the air mattress they were sharing. They repeatedly pretended to have sex, and I took pictures with my camera phone as my real camera was in the car.

Saturday morning Stacey and I went to the rental place for the tubing equipment and bought our tickets and stuff. We stuffed four inner tubes in the van and strapped the remaining two to the roof rack with a bungee cord. It was amusing. It had begun raining while we were in line, and kept raining intermittently all day. About 2PM we decided to just go tubing and risk getting caught in a storm. We stood in the rain for 45 minutes wearing only our bathing suits, life jackets and helmets. It was quite cold and we weren't sure we would enjoy the trip down the gorge because of it. Fortunately the river turned out to be warmer than expected, and the trip was loads of fun.

I was hungry after the first run and Sandra and Stacey were freezing, so we returned to site and then went for hot showers while the other three made another run down the river. They decided to start higher up the river the second time, and test out the really tricky rapids at the beginning that we'd skipped the first time. Cheese got dumped off his tube and smashed his left thigh on a big rock. Good jorb.

It stopped raining for quite some time around supper time, and we made a run to the store to get firewood and marshmallows. Then we went to Timmy's for hot drinks and while we sat there the rain came down in buckets. When it slowed we returned to site, and I stayed up for a few s'mores before hitting the sack. When I got into the tent Cheese was busy trying to sort out his sleeping bag, and I just whipped off my shirt and bra to put on a sweater for bed. Cheese laughed and said "I can see your boobs!" As if he hadn't seen them before! If there are any new readers out there, I'm well-known for accidentally and intentionally flashing random people. Cheese being like my brother, he's had ample opportunity to see me in various stages of undress. Anyway, he asked if he could touch my boob, and I was a little stunned but said "uuuhhh... OK..." He poked me in the boobs and pulled his hand back quickly, giggling loudly. I laughed and laughed. He said my boob was firmer than he thought it would be and it's not droopy like some boobs. It was an odd thing to hear from him, but hey, a compliment is a compliment.

Sunday morning we packed up and went for lunch at Timmy's. We hugged each other goodbye in the parking lot and Stacey and i returned to the gorge to take some pictures. It was really beautiful and it's too bad the rest of the group missed it. I told Stacey there were some other really cool places to see on the way home, so I decided to take her there.

First we went to Everton Scout Camp, which is my favourite Scout camp. We walked through the mosquito-infested forest and looked at the rapelling cliff, then turned back and walked across the rickety swinging bridge. When we tried to walk back out, we took a wrong turn and ended up getting stuck in forest and we couldn't find the path again. I knew the general direction we had to go, but it became impassible. Stacey decided to break down some dead branches to get us back the way we came from, and we managed to get back to the field. We were only lost for about 10 minutes, but I kept joking that she had saved my life.

Next we went to the Badlands, and Stacey was really impressed. She took some photos and walked around a bit, and I read the new signboard that explained the history of the site. Then we returned to the car and went home, with one stop near home to get some dinner. Mmmm... liver and onions!

I spent last night at Austin's house as Ellen's house is full of people. Her daughter-in-law Kim and Kim's mom Diane are here with Kim's daughters Shannon and Sarah. I haven't seen the girls since Ellen and Brian got married about four years ago. Still, when I walked in the door I was first bombarded by three dogs, then by two little girls jumping up and down shouting my name. Ellen says they've been asking for me all weekend. For the next few hours I tried to keep up with the expectations of these two girls that wanted me to play with them, and after dinner I drew the line and said I'd watch from the patio while they played with other kids in the playground behind the house. When it was time for bed Shannon asked me to tuck her in, so I put them both to bed and they were quite happy about that. I've spent the rest of the evening talking with the adults and having a good time.

Tonight I cancelled the cable and internet at Mom's house. Apparrently Dad had some sort of bundle deal with Rogers and by breaking the bundle deal before the term was up they have to back-charge the difference in price that he had saved by bundling. I said it's not my problem, since it will be charged to my mom's credit card. The service will be cut on August 14, and I will have to get the modem out of the house as soon as possible to return it or she will be charged $115 for that, too. However, if she won't let me get it, it's not my problem is it? I don't really care about the modem, I just care about getting the printer and UPS and router and stuff from Dad's desk, and they happen to be in the same place as the modem so I can use the modem as an excuse to get in. On the same trip I'll have to get the camping gear, and after that I'll have to say goodbye to anything I missed because I doubt I'll ever get back in there. This afternoon I had a panic attack out of the blue, with no apparent trigger. It must be that I'm dreading going back in and confronting her one more time.

Today began with lunch at Cora's with two friends from the Krasman family support group. We had a great time, and talked for three hours. Jody treated us, which was really sweet, and Marg brought us some relaxation teabags that smell like licorice. It was a great way to start the day.

I came home (as I now call this house) and walked Max, put away my laundry and did some packing for camp tomorrow. I went to Zellers and bought myself some shorts because I only have two pairs, and one is in Gilly's storage locker. I'm melting in jeans! I actually bought a pair of pink shorts with little flowers on the edge. When I told Brian Mom would die if she saw me wearing them, he told me to hurry up and show her. LOL

I'm looking forward to camp this weekend. The weather report looks good, and I'm raring to go!

I went to the family doctor today and had my ODSP medical forms filled out. Tonight I have to fast so I can go to the lab tomorrow morning and have the glucose test done for the endocrinologist. I remembered late this afternoon that the endo had said I need to make sure I get about 120 grams of carbs in each of the three days before the test. Last night I ate a bunch of Kraft Dinner, and the day before I was with Gilly so I'm sure I had carbs of some sort. Today however, I had only had one meal, and the only carbs in it were from a bagel. How would I carb load quickly before dinner? I went to Reid's Dairy and boughtmyself a 3-scoop waffle cone. Which of course, turned out to be more like 6 scoops, and approximately the size of my head. It took me ages to eat, and diabetes is sure to begin tonight. But I did it for the good of my health, because it was medically necessary.

Then I remembered the doctor saying I should take some reading material because the test takes 2 hours, so I went to Chapters and bought the June British Cosmo with the nude male centrefolds. Again, it's medically necessary. And hey, the nude men are raising money for testicular cancer so I'm killing two birds with one stone.

I dropped into DQ this morning and told them I'm moving to Kitchener. Janet wrote down my phone numbers and e-mail address so she can stay in touch and get updates later. Steve from head office walked in while we were talking so I couldn't hang around. On my way out he asked how I was doing, and I told him I'm moving. I gave him the nutshell version of my situation, and he said he was sorry to see me go and if I want a job with DQ in Kitchener he'll be happy to put in a good word for me. Vijay told me he hopes to work with me again some day.

News? Not much to report, but I'll update in case you're wondering.

The parties on the weekend were great. I drank and got happily drunk both nights, with no ill effects. Mitun made me laugh lots at the sex toy party on Friday night, as she was doing some odd things with the sample merchandise. I spent far too much money there but not the most out of the group. The Rover barbecue was fun and we played in the playground after all the kiddies had gone home to bed. Joy!

Yesterday Gilly and I went to Pat's (next door neighbour) house to pick up my van seats. He asked if I'd heard from Mom, and of course we hadn't. Gilly wanted to get a tent from the garage, but since Mom's not driving now we can't tell whether she's home. I noticed she had had the locks changed when I went to the door to leave an envelope full of documents I had to return to her. Gilly tried calling the house and got a busy signal, which meant either Mom was on the phone in the bedroom and couldn't see us there, or she'd gone out and left the phone off the hook as usual. Her scooter wasn't in the van, but I said I wasn't opening that garage and having more police called. Gilly decided not to take the risk.

I spent last night at Austin's house so I would have a shorter commute to my endocrinologist appointment this morning. I went downtown and spoke with two very pleasant medical students who wrote down my medical history. They conferred with the doctor for half an hour, then all three came into the room and the doctor announced that my neurologist had hit the nail on the head. She's diagnosing me with polycystic ovarian syndrome based on my acne and weight problems, and will also do some tests for another condition. She confirmed that PCOS doesn't make you sleepy, but said the other condition she's checking me for (I didn't catch what it was called) could contribute to my sleepiness. I am to get blood tests done this week, and return in 3 months for the other tests.

It was really hot out so I walked to the Manulife Centre and saw Evening in the Varsity VIP movie theatre. I sat in the cushy armchair and put my Nalgene bottle on the little coffee table. I treated myself to popcorn. The movie was good, although it was strange watching a woman die on screen right after having watched my father die in real life. It didn't upset me, but I did recall feelings of sitting beside him in a state of shock, knowing his death was imminent but being unable to fully accept it. The flashbacks in the movie made me wonder what Dad was seeing during the brief moments of delerium as he was dying.

On my way home I decided to visit Irene, one of the old ladies from the sleep group. She had phoned me a couple of weeks ago and left a message, but I had been unable to find time to return her call. I knew she'd be worried about me. I dropped in on her about 3:45PM, and we had a nice chat but she wouldn't let me leave. I finally got away at 6:15PM, more than an hour after I announced I had to get back for dinner.

I'm relieved to be back at Ellen's in the air conditioning. I called Carolyn from the church to find out if she heard anything from or about Mom, and she said she has no news. However, tomorrow is the church ladies' coffee morning, so she's going to let me know if Mom shows up there.

I just sent the official announcement out to the singles' club.

It is with great sadness that I must announce my departure from the York Young Singles' Network. Due to circumstances surrounding the death of my father, I will be moving to Kitchener within the next month. I have really enjoyed running this group and meeting so many wonderful people. Many of you have provided support by giving me places to sleep, helping me move my belongings, and listening when I needed a shoulder to cry on. Your kindness and generosity are reminders that you are true friends that I am very lucky to have.

Although I am leaving, I would like to see the group continue in one form or another. Chris P. has volunteered to run the group if two or three volunteers wish to join him. I will gladly book August's events so there will be a month to get things sorted with the new volunteers. I would also be happy to offer any help I can to those who wish to take over. Please let me know if you are willing to volunteer in any way, and we can arrange a discussion over coffee or something to figure out how the group will run once I am gone.

Anyone wishing to contact me once I have relinquished this e-mail address can contact me at <e-mail address omitted for privacy>. For those of you who have my phone numbers, they will remain active on cell phones so you can still find me.

Thanks again for all your support and for helping me realise my ambitions to bring people together for fun and friendship. I wish you all luck. - Ali

Hi folks,

An update on my situation. Things have gotten a lot worse, and I am
officially homeless. On Friday my mom got the letter saying her
driver's license has been suspended, and she flew into a rage, then
took off in her car. I called police, but she returned before they
arrived. They did nothing about her admitting driving without a
license, and at her request ejected me from the house. They advised me
to get a Form 2 from the Justice of the Peace to put her in hospital.
Gilly and I did so right away, and easily got the form.

We waited until Monday to have the police pick her up, and in the
meantime stayed with friends. Gilly and I watched from across the road
when police picked Mom up, and she saw the cop cars and came storming
out yelling "What the hell is your problem now?" Fifteen minutes later
they put her in the cop car (the front as she couldn't fit in back) and
took her away. We were advised to wait at the house until they called
us to hospital to speak to the psychiatrist. While we waited, Gilly and
I frantically packed as much of my stuff as we could into our cars.

Two hours later we were called in and were interviewed separately. Even
with our interviews and a letter I had sent with the police, they were
going to release her. However, I managed to convince them at the last
minute based on my insistence that her using her scooter as a weapon to
intentionally hit people makes her a threat to others.

I spent the night at the house and went to bed early. Mom had cancelled
my car insurance out of spite so I couldn't drive. i knew this because
she called Ellen to brag about having done it. Ellen played dumb and
said she hadn''t heard from us. I managed to arrange car insurance
starting on Tuesday. I woke at 5:30AM yesterday and took a load of
stuff to Austin's house. I had a can of Boost for breakfast as I didn't
want to waste time eating.

I called the hospital at noon and Mom's nurse said they had assessed
her and decided to keep her for a couple more days. I had left a
message for the psychiatrist saying if they did release her they needed
to warn me son I could escape safely before she got home. Figuring I
could relax a bit, I went out for lunch and then to the doctor.

While waiting for the doctor I overheard the receptionist talking on
the phone, obviously to my mother. They had let her out without telling
me! She arrived
while I was out and vandalised my computer but doesn't appear to have
done any real damage. When I got home she called police, I had to
leave again and returned later with 3 friends and removed almost all
my stuff. I'm officially homeless, and will be couch surfing for the
next couple of months until Gilly manages to arrange a 2-bedroom
apartment in Kitchener.

I will have limited internet access for a while as I have to rely on
friends, and I also have limited phone access in that my home number
forwards to my cell for now and I have misplaced my charger in the
move. My answering machine only takes three messages. I plan to
transfer my home number to a Bell cell phone, but that will take a week
or so and then I'll be more accessible. If you need to reach me, Try
the following numbers:

(omitted for privacy)

Non-urgent messages can be left by e-mail and I will probably read them
within a couple of days but may not have time to respond. The long-term
plan is that I will be getting an apartment in Kitchener with Gilly,
but that will take a couple of months until one becomes available in
her building. I will couch-surf in the meantime. Thanks to Austin, Luc,
and Mitun for all the help with the move, and to all those who are
giving me places to sleep and store my stuff. I cannot express how much
your help means to me.

I will send updates when they are available. - Ali

One month ago today, my father died. 20 minutes ago, at 11:10AM, I hugged Gilly and cried. That was the time my father passed away. At about 2AM, I commented that Dad died a month ago, and Gilly said that at 2AM we were rubbing his arms and making him smile.

Yesterday, my mom got the letter saying her driver's license has been suspended. It said a doctor had reported her, but she didn't make the connection that it was the family doctor that did it. She called his office in a rage and demanded he write her a letter right away saying she's not crazy (her words) so she can drive again. The receptionist said he was too busy. Mom didn't catch on.

I was getting in the shower at the time she opened the letter, and I heard Mom yell to Gilly that "that bitch Ali did this". When I stepped out of the shower she thundered up the hallway and thrust the letter in my face, shouting "Look what you did, you bitch!" Gilly had been playing dumb, but I told Mom Gilly was in on it too. Mom turned to yell at Gilly while I got dressed. Neither of us is planning to tell her Dorian is involved, as we need him to be the good guy that can work with her when she won't listen to anybody else. Mom kept telling us to get out, that she hated us, and we had to leave her house and she was going to change the locks so we could never return. I didn't respond, and Gilly and I agreed to stay inside the house and wait it out. Mom kept threatening to call the police to have us thrown out, and I was tempted to dare her but didn't want it to actually happen.

She phoned Dorian and told him we had taken her license away, and he played dumb. She was freaking out because she had promised to drive four women to a fundraiser Dorian was doing in Thornhill that evening. Dorian said he'd give them all rides himself, and that he'd pick her up at 4PM. She told him about throwing us out and changing the locks, and Dorian said we must have done it out of love and concern for her safety. Of course, she would have none of it. A few minutes later I hid in the basement and called Dorian myself, while Gilly was the target of Mom's fury. I filled him in that I wasn't going to tell her he was involved, but I asked him to call Dr. Ulic, her psychiatrist, to let her know why we had her license removed. Mom has an appointment with Ulic on Tuesday, and since she is deceived by Mom's lies she would sign the forms saying she's OK to drive. Hopefully Dorian can get her to listen.

Gilly and I were talking in her room a few minutes later, and we heard Mom grab her keys and leave the house. We looked outside and her van was gone. She was knowingly driving on a suspended license! I called the police and explained the situation, and they started to take a medical history while I waited for them to arrive. I didn't see which way Mom went, so I couldn't tell them where to find her. She came home very shortly, before the police arrived. I was on the phone with them, on her line, and Gilly and I locked ourselves in my bedroom and I told the officer I was doing so. Mom picked up the phone and started yelling into it, telling me it's her phone and her house and I had to leave, and I'm a bitch and how dare I do that to her, and she was going to call the police and have us thrown out and change the locks. The officer on the phone interrupted and said "Ma'am, this is the police." Mom set off on a tirade about how awful we were, and that we had her license suspended and she just drove over to the pharmacy to get a prescription. The officer told her she's not allowed to drive now, no matter what. She spoke to Mom for a couple of minutes, and then asked her to hang up and let her speak to me again. She could tell there was something very wrong with Mom's judgement just from that brief conversation. Mom went into the kitchen and started banging pots and pans around, and the police arrived shortly. When the officer on the phone told me there was someone outside, I went out and met the first cop, who had parked across the end of the driveway to keep Mom from driving away again.

The police didn't stay for all that long, and the result was that they couldn't do anything about Mom having been driving, and because Mom insisted she wanted us out they had to make us leave. She told the police she only wanted us gone for a couple of days, and I said fine, I'd leave for a couple of days. She told me "a couple of days after Monday", so I had her write me a note saying I was allowed back in the house after Wednesday. She wrote that Gilly is allowed back after Monday. She told the police she wanted them to stay until I had left the house "to make sure there was no more trouble." Argh. I packed some clothes and locked my room and got out of there. I asked for a police incident report, and they shrugged their shoulders and got me one. Again, the police suggested I get a Form 2 from the Justice of the Peace.

When I came out Gilly was at the next door neighbour's house, filing them in and asking them to keep an eye on Mom. Apparently Anne had been frightened when she woke from a nap to hear the doorbell ringing, and saw cop cars outside. She thought they were coming for her! She was relieved to find out they were there for us, but concerned because Mom had thrown us out. I gave her my cell number in case she needed to reach me for anything.

Gilly and I went directly to the courthouse, and I spent an hour and a half filling out the forms for the JP. For one question, my answer was so long I wrote on the back of the page as well. I had heard the JP in town was hard to convince, but in fact she was very nice when we saw her. We had a bit of a laugh when the tape recorder wouldn't run and she was fiddling with it to try and make it work, but she had already made the decision to grant us the Form 2 and the interview was very short. I had described Mom's driving on a suspended license, her eating a loaf of bread daily and making herself ill, her tendency to stash dirty diapers under the bathroom sink, her couple of physical attacks on me in recent months, her dragging the baby chair with her scooter in the restaurant, her bragging about ramming an old woman with her scooter, and her attempts to sit on a frail old man's knee at church. The JP explained that we have seven days to get her into hospital, and all we have to do is hand the form to the police and they are obligated to take her in. She will be kept in for 3 days for evaluation, but after that she will be free to go unless a psychiatrist decides she is still unstable. She wished us luck and we thanked her profusely.

On the JP's advice, we went to the police station and asked about the best way to have her picked up. They suggested an early morning arrest would be easiest, as they would know she was home. While we were there one of the cops that had been at the house earlier sowed up, and I waved to him. I showed him the form, and he said we should have her picked up that night. She was out with Dorian so that wasn't practical, and besides, we were both tired and wanted a real strategy. The JP had said if we got her in right away she may not be seen by a psychiatrist during the 72-hour period, and said perhaps we should wait a day or two to make sure enough staff was on hand to see her. After some discussion, Gilly and I have decided Monday morning is the best time, as Gilly will still be in town to help but there will be plenty of staff on hand on Tuesday and Wednesday. The other thing is, that would mean she would be released on Thursday morning, and Gilly comes home late Thursday afternoon.

We spent the evening with Ellen and Brian, filling them on in the day's events and then going to the movies to see Die Hard. We enjoyed the movie, and it took our minds off the Mom fiasco for a while.

We were incredibly tired when we got back to the Powell's house about 1AM, but we stayed up chatting a bit longer. Gilly and I once again climbed into the futon bed together about 2AM, and I commented to her that it was one month ago that Dad died. We had been joking and giggling until that point, but we both became silent and said nothing else until we fell asleep.

I'm really sleepy right now, but if I go to bed already I'll be screwed up in the morning, and I need to be awake for my ODSP financial evaluation in the morning. For now I'll blog to keep myself awake.

Yesterday Bernard and Roy came over to start work on cataloguing Dad's stuff. They had both been here several years ago, but they were flabbergasted when they saw our basement. Wall-to-wall model aircraft, bits and pieces and tools and engines and fuels and glues all over the place. We decided to start with the engines as they are the highest-value items. Digging through th workshop and other parts of the basement, we mined about 200 engines, far more than even I thought he had.Every time we moved something, there was another engine. We took engines and radios out of a few severely broken models. These engines have values from $100 up to $500 each.They were sorted into boxes according to type, and we also started boxes for radio parts, wheels, fuel tanks, spark plugs, and other bits. There are at least a dozen radios down there, and Roy said a complete radio, receiver, servos and battery goes for about $75 at a swap meet. They also have some thought on where to find a buyer for Dad's metal lathe, which they say is worth about $1500.

We had a good time sorting through things, although Bernard admitted at one point that he felt somewhat uncomfortable going through my dad's things. I told him I did too, but that Dad's gone and he told me he wanted us to do this, so we were invading his workshop with his blessing. We talked a lot about Dad, his illness, his idiosyncrasies, his relationship with me, Gilly, and my mom. The guys never really knew much about our family, as Dad didn't talk about home when he was out flying. they were very empathetic regarding Mom's illness, and said they would be careful what they say to her. They asked that I always be here when they come over to work, which is fine as I intended to do that anyway.

So the plan of action is for the guys to identify as many as possible of the three large boxes of engines they took home with them, put number tags on each and create an inventory spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will then be e-mailed to Ottawa for Richard, the president of MAAC, to find prices for. Richard has offered to sell some of the engines for me on eBay to help me get through them more quickly, but basically eBay is going to have to become my full-time job for a while. Smaller parts will be taken to swap meets by Claire, another man in the club. We may also have the local model club members drop by once things are more organised and have a yard sale of sorts. I offered to give each volunteer an engine as a gift for helping with such a huge task, but both men refused. Bernard picked out three engines he really wanted, and Roy looked up their prices in a big book. Bernard bought the three engines from me on the spot, appearing nervous to do so. I assured him it was alright, and that the big benefit to being a volunteer is that he could have first dibs on anything he wanted to buy. I could have gotten a lot more for those engines on eBay, but I really didn't care. There are 200 more to sell, and I'll get top dollar for many of them. I figure he essentially paid full price for two engines, and got one free, which is what I had offered in the first place.

So my estimate of a year for selling off the workshop's contents was reasonable. I'm glad someone is backing me up on that.

After 5 hours of work, Roy and Bernard left, and I put things away as neatly as possible so we could find them next time. I was too tired to cook, but wanted real food, so I suggested to Mom we try out a new restaurant around the corner that I'd like to take the singles' club to. It offers a $20 prix fixe menu on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but when we got there Mom didn't like the prix fixe. She chose veal with a mushroom sauce, and it sounded so good I went with that too. We had tiramsu and carrot cake for dessert, and it was delicious. I wanted to pay my half of the bill, but Mom snatched it away from me and said she'd pay it. She then shrieked, "Seventy-two dollars!" Well, at $23 for an entr嶪 and $8 for dessert, $72 is right. There's more proof that she doesn't understand how mall things add up to big things. Anyway, I tried to give her money, but she wouldn't accept it, so I thanked her for the meal. She left the waiter a $2 tip, so I waited for her to walk away and I slipped a $10 bill on the table. Mom had already told the owner I was scoutin for the singles' club, so I didn't want them to get a bad impression from my mom leaving a crappy tip. Had I left a tip while Mom was watching, she would have made a scene.

After dinner we went to a Progressive Conservative Electoral District Association meeting, to support Dorian as he's running for MP again. The party has so few members now it almost doesn't exist, and they were 7 members short of having party status. I signed up just to help him out, although I'm not interested in politics. I figured after all he's done for our family, the least I can do is sign up to help his political party exist. He asked me to ask my friends to join, so here's an official invitation for anyone who wants to join.

I realised last night as I was talking to Mitun that yesterday was the first day I could call a good day in a very long time.

Today I've been really sluggish again. I got up at 9AM, checked my e-mail, chatted a bit with Luc, then at 10:30AM I was so tired I went back to bed. I got up around noon, not because I was ready to get up but because somebody was pounding on the door and ringing the doorbell. By the time I realised it wasn't a hallucination and got myself up and put on a dress, the person had left. I have no idea who was here. I decided to do a bit of cleaning, throwing out garbage and stuff. I started looking for the documents I need for my ODSP interview tomorrow, and filed away a bunch of financial papers I've been too tired to file. I finally got myself showered and dressed, then went out to put the big wad of engine sale money in the bank and go grocery shopping, with a brief visit to DQ in between so I could get some ice cream and ask them to save boxes from tomorrow's shipment for me. I had a waffle bowl, 'cause waffle bowls rock.

Today was weird. I was awoken by Mom calling to me to wake up because she had just made an appointment with the bank manager and she wanted me to go with her. This surprised me, because when I suggested a few days ago that we go in together she took offence. Anyway, I was pleased. We went to the bank and Mom signed the forms to transfer Dad's RIFs into her name, and she said she intended to leave them that way. I also reminded her about setting up a chequing account, so that was done. I brought out Dad's Visa bill that had just arrived, and was inquiring if there were enough fund in his estate account to pay it, and Mom whipped out cash and said she wanted to pay it. I told her she didn't have to, but she could if she wanted. After all, the money in the estate account is ultimately hers as well. Anyway, she paid it off, and also paid some money onto her Mastercard. On the way out, she remembered that she forgot to keep enough money out to pay the psychologist with, so I said I'd give her a cheque. Anyway, the bank trip was mostly peaceful and Mom only made a couple of nasty remarks about me, which I ignored.

I tried to pay Mom her weekly $50 this morning, and she refused to take it. I insisted, and she said I can't pay her because I'm not working, so she won't take it. Odd. I mentioned it to the bank manager in front of her today, just so somebody would witness it in case Mom accused me of slacking on rent payments. Oddly, Mom also asked me about my face breaking out again, and I said the facials are the only thing that seemt o help right now and I'd need them more often to keep my skin clear. However, I just can't afford to do them that often. She asked how much they cost, and when I said $50 a poop she said she'd see what she has left from her pension after her bills are paid off. It's nice of her to offer, but I couldn't accept her money for something like that. I've had bad skin for half my life, I'm not suddenly going to concern myself with it now. It's very nice of her to offer, though, and I told her I appreciated the gesture.

Dorian was unable to see the doctor with me today as his car troubles are still really bad. I asked the doctor if he would mind Dorian phoning him, and he said that would be fine. The doctor signed my EI sickness forms giving me the full 15 weeks, and I dropped off the form at the Service Canada office next door. I got a letter in the mail today asking for my first two reporting periods to be submitted online, so I did them this afternoon. I am supposed to receive my first EI payment in a few days. I've managed not to spend much, and I still have a credit on my credit card from the payment I made out of Dad's bank account nearly a month ago. The longer I can make it stretch, the better.

I took a short nap this afternoon before I went out for gelato at La Paloma in Woodbridge. I picked up Stacey and two Chrises along the way, and we had a good time. Boise (Chris' seeing eye dog) startled me while I was driving when he licked my elbow, which was rather funny. He passed out on the floor in the ice cream shop and some lady came over and asked me his age. I said I didn't know, he belongs to Chris. Then she turned to speak to Chris directly. The other odd occurrence in the shop was that when Chris tried to place an order, the staff tried to pass him off to someone else and didn't want to take his order. He was confused by the girl's instruction to "go over there" as he didn't know where "over there" was. Chris told Boise to "find Ali", and Boise headed toward the washroom. Chris thought he was misbehaving, but Boise was clever. I was in the ladies' room! Anyway, when I returned I gave Chris a hand by leading him up to the counter sans dog and telling the staff to serve him. I guess they couldn't see the dog behind the counter and didn't realise Chris was blind, because they kept asking questions as if Chris could see what they were pointing to. Funny that.

Anyway, we had a good time. I had four flavours of gelato, all of them tasty, and two of them with a significant amount of alcohol in the mixes. If you decide to go to La Paloma yourself, go to their web site first and print out the coupon for an extra free scoop on whatever you order.

Overall, it's been a good day. I can't recall the last time I was able to say that.