It's been 19 hours since I landed in Toronto, and now I finally have a chance to sit down and write a bit about what happened in the last 19 hours. I was originally going to fly to Ottawa and then get rerouted to Toronto last night, making my arrival time midnight. However, when I got to the airport, I found out that the flight leaving from Boston was delayed, meaning that by the time I got to Ottawa, I would have definitely missed the flight home. Having experienced this once in the past, I spoke to a representative behind the counter and he kindly rebooked my flight. Sighs... If only someone did that for me last time, then it'd have been a much more enjoyable experience. Anyways, so I got home at around 11pm.

Before I left Boston though, I had learned of the Perseid meteor shower and that it would be at its peak last night, and I really wanted to see it. Knowing that my folks would probably skin me alive if I left the house 2 minutes after I just stepped in, I thought all day on Saturday about how I could sneak out of the house unnoticed. Thankfully, an idea was suggested to me to make it seem like I hadn't planned the excursion at all. Hehe... I asked my folks if they wanted to travel a bit more north with me to watch it. Having said this, I'd be doomed if they said yes. Hehehe... luckily, they said no...so I pouted a bit and said that I really wanted to see it and told them I'd find someone else to go with me. Hehehe...a few phone calls later, I was out the door and on my way with Alex to get Marj and meet Grant and Mike.

The four of us (excluding Mike), finally set out to find a nice dark piece of land in which to observe the spectacular view that awaited us. Stouffville Road's a really freaky strip by the way. It was either the darkness and silence that gave me the creeps, or it could've been the topic of discussion that Grant and I started up in the car that added to the spookiness: UFOs and ghosts. Then when we stopped off on the side of one road, Alex decided to say something about how the scenery seemed like the ones in movies where the characters get chased and killed by some mad and deranged serial killer. What a way to start the night! We stood there on the empty road looking up at the sky and the hundreds of stars blinking back at us. After about 10-15 minutes, we heard dogs barking from the direction of the house we were closest to. Hahaha... we knew they weren't coming our way, but in case they woke up the owners, we decided that we didn't want to get shot; so off we went again back to a conservation area we passed by on the way to continue our gaze into the heavens.

As much as we all wanted to see the meteor shower, we didn't prepare very well for it. First of all, none of us (last of all me) expected it to be so chilly last night. Only Marj had a long sleeve on and Alex had to roll down his sleeves to cover his arms while Grant and I had no sleeves to roll. There was a blanket that was the perfect size for the 4 of us to lie down on if we all layed on our sides. Grant saved us by pulling out a fleece blanket that was also the perfect size to cover the 4 of us, sparing us from the shivers. And no one had a star chart! And so there we were, 4 weirdos, laying on our backs/sides on a strip of grass in the dark at a deserted conservation park that was off a road that was patrolled regularly by cops. I think it was only be sheer luck that no cops found us!

Half way through our watch, a car started coming into the park, but it seemed like it was trying to do a 3-point turn. After about a minute or two, the car rolled into the park towards us. The 4 of us froze in our spots, not knowing whether it was a cop or not, or whether or not we should get up and make a run for it (before we had said that we'd make a run for it if it was cops). Finally we decided to pretend that we don't exist and that we didn't see the strangers driving by. However, they hardly failed to notice our presence and stopped to ask if we were ok. I think they probably thought we were dead...hehehe... anyways, we told them about the meteor shower and after about 5 minutes, they finally left us. Grant thinks they were looking for a place to smoke up. My first impression was that the driver was buzzed. But after that, there were no more interruptions...except for Marj scaring herself with her hair and the crickets.

The hour and a half that we spent staring up into the sky was one of the most beautiful moments I can remember. The silence of the night was truncated by gasps and ooohs and ahhhs as well as frequent blurbs about UFOs and aliens. Grant and I agreed that it'd be scarier to confront an alien than a ghost, but Alex insisted that ghosts are worse because they can go inside you and possess your body! LOL!!!

Stars apparently flicker and leap around in little circles if you look at them one at a time and satellites move very fast across the sky. No matter how many we saw last night, each time gold and silver streaked over the sky, it created an atmosphere of awe and tranquility. How amazing it is, that something so far away, can touch us so. Sighs...

Quotes:
Alex: "I want to see a meteor and a satellite come crashing into each other."
Ranee: "Hey...how is that star moving?... oh wait, they're all moving!"

So I spent the first 5 hours of being home with my friends, freezing outside under the heavens and having a wonderful time rather than in the comforts of my own bed. Well traded!

Well, after spending the first hours and night not at home, one could hardly say no to my mother when she dragged me out of the house this morning for dim sum with my aunt. Sighs... 2 hours... food was great... the company was alright...could've been better though. And then we drove all around the GTA running errands for them: Markham Road, Finch/Leslie, Leslie/16th, Markham, and finally home. When we finally got back at 3ish, I got blessed with the duties of sorting out the contracts for the phone bills and cleaning up the computer at home.

Mom also showed me the photos she and Dad took when they visited the Maritimes. Hehee...the 2 look so cute. Just now at dinner, I noticed a couple bottles of strawberry flavoured Smirnoff Ice in the fridge. Thinking that it was weird because nowhere in my living memory did I ever tell my folks I drank anything aside from juice, water, and pop; and I was positive my sister wouldn't be daring enough to put them there. So upon asking her who bought them, this is the story she gave me:

Sighs...don't ask. We're such idiots! We went to PEI and NB and NS and your Dad bought one to try one day. We thought that they were really cool because they came in all sorts of flavours and that you and your sister might like them. So we bought a few. Afterwards, we were wondering that maybe a few bottles may not be enough, so we bought some more at the next LCBO we saw. All along the rest of the trip, we were carrying them in the luggage and was afraid of breaking them. When we got home and showed Elise...she sighed and told us that they have them here too! And I was like...what???

LOL LOL LOL!!! Oh man...my folks are too too funny! I can't believe they did that! First of all, they bought us booze as a souvenir. Second of all, they didn't make the connection that LCBO was everywhere and could possibly carry the same merchandise. Lastly, they thought it was cool and had never heard of it! Sighs... I don't know whether to laugh or to hit myself in the head for their innocence. I'm in absolute disbelief though. LOL! Oh man... good stories and more to come. This is just my first day back!

Disgust