Well, I'm kind of bummed tonight. Tomorrow morning ma chere Ibitessem is leaving to go to New York City for a week and then heading home to Paris. She's been my roommate since I got here and I'm really sad to see her leave. It's hard not to dwell on it. Before living here I had never shared a bedroom with someone before and it was easily one of the things I was most ansy about. However, she is a fantastic roommate and, even better, a fantastic person. So now it's just Canada and Norway. Well, not quite yet, but in about eight hours it will.

Tonight Marita, my norwegian roommate, cooked us all a fabulous supper and we had kind of a "last supper". Kind of ironic, as it was also our first supper. We've randomly eaten together in mix 'n match fashion, but never the three of us. That happens though, we all had such different work schedules and ate Commons-style dinners. You know, the random food you stuff down your face in the ten minutes you spend eating between getting home from work and getting ready to go out. She fixed me when I looked like a retard or didn't have a clue what looked nice together. That's when we saw each other the most: the hours between 10:30pm and 12:00am. Anyway, I don't want to dwell on it but it's hard. Having an older brother for 23 years, it was kind of neat to have an older sister for seven months. This is my first BIG good-bye... I've seen a lot of people leave, but very few of them I knew very well. I notice they are gone, but it hasn't effected me personally too much. This one is going to be rough. Boo...

Oh, and icing on the cake: we were trying to get it arranged so my frien Katelyn could move in and, despite assurance that it would not be a problem, suddenly it IS a problem and she isn't allowed to move in. Bloody retarded. Sometimes living at the Commons is like having Big Brother watching over you.

Umm, on a more positive note work is going well and the cruise was fan-bloody-tastic!!! Next trip is Puerto Rico at the end of May.

Anyway, I'm too bummed to write about happy things.

I signed up for a 5-kilometre run next Saturday. Hilarity at its finest. I'll let you know if they don't kick me out for being too slow. My goal is 35 minutes. Should be interesting.

Sigh.

Spring ahead!

Of my seven-day working stretch, five of those shifts start at 10:15. Today, on spring-ahead, change-your-clocks day I am lucky enough not to start until 3:30! Excellent timing, if you ask me.

So why am I working seven days in a row? Because I am going on a cruise on Thursday! So it's a case of early days off one week and my days off for the following week being late in the week. However, I'm pretty sure working a mere seven days in a row (actually not that much,) is worth three-and-a-half boats of being pampered and bumming around a boat filled with food, pools, sunchairs and fun. And yes, it is a Disney cruise I am going on. I figured I really would like to do both a Disney and a non-Disney cruise, but I might as well do the Disney cruise while I am at cast member (as opposed to a relaxing sail right before I head home after the end of my contract) so I can get a discount.

Yesterday wasn't a great day at work. It was just one of those days that I was falling behind because I just couldn't get what I needed. I would run back to grab ice tea for someone and there would be no ice and no ice tea. I would need some plates to put butter, ketchup, dressing, etc., on but there wouldn't be anything. Little things like that happening waaaaaaaaay too closely together drive me mad as it slows me down soooo much thus the guests at my tables sit there wondering if their server is flying down from Canada before she greets their party. I rarely have a good day when I work the Saturday lunch shift. I don't know why, but it just seems to never go smoothly. We were short staffed yesterday but it didn't really seem too busy. It was mostly since we were short we had one fewer person to help get ice, stock stuff, brew ice tea, etc. Anyway, today is a new day. A new day for people to call in, as apparently people call in every single freaking day. I will admit, I called in sick once but I was actually sick. Very sick. I probably could have handled, at most, one table of two at a time. A table of two with no wine and sharing a meal.

My cruise is going to fly by super quick. We leave Thursday morning for Port Canaveral. The ship doesn't leave until 5:00ish and we sail overnight and spend Friday at Nassau in the Bahamas. We then sail overnight Friday to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, where we spend the day on Saturday night. Sunday morning we get up early and get off the ship as apparently they feel like waking us at a ridiculously early hour, much like a high school -trip to Greece. Hmm. On Saturday night the cruise ship has "Pirate Night". So we get to, if we want, dress up like pirates. I'm pumped! Arrrr, yee matey! Anyway, wouldn't it be quite the thing to own an island? Oh, and if you feel your cash burning a hole in your pocket, Disney offers ocean-side, cabana massages on their island. Ahhhhhh, relaxing. I, on the otherhand, would prefer to get a kayak and a bike. (Not at the same time.)

This week I went somewhere NEW. On Thursday night five of us trucked down I-drive (well, took a cab,) and went to Howl at the Moon. It was good fun - dueling pianos with some very entertaining pianists! However, the bar could use a dance floor. Sometimes sitting still for 2+ hours singing along makes me a little fidgity.

I went to a proper bookstore on Wednesday for the first time in AGES. I was feeling bookstore deprived so decided to use my clever Yellow Page skills (thank you, Balfour Beatty!) to hunt down the closest bookstore. Low and behold, I killed two birds with one stone. I had wanted to go to Pointe Orlando (an outdoor shopping mall type place,) for quite awhile and it turnes out it has a bookstore. Woo! So I spent some money.

Anyway, I'm oot.