Gas to Penticton: $30. Bottle of Vodka: $23. Cover for the club: $10. Drinks: $30. Falling in the lake fully clothed at 330 in the morning: Priceless.

So this is what a hang over feels like... ugh. Last night was awesome. We all had such a blast in Penticton we've decided we just may do it again next year.

Jade and I spent many hours on her family's boat yesterday on Kal and Woods lake. The weather here is so hot it's just insane. I actually managed to even out my farmer tan which was kind of nice as I was day glow white up to this point. So after we went on the boat we went up to her parents house where they fed us some awesome food.

As soon as supper was over we got ourselves ready and hit the road for Penticton. Sadly on the way down I was stopped for speeding... but because I was so nice he reduced the fine from excessive to just plain ol regular speeding. Happily this was the sole low point to the evening.

We got to Penticton and the gong show began. We went and visited friends, made new friends, went dancing at the Blue Mule, cruised around town in my car with the stereo cranked, went swimming at 330 in the morning, went to bed at around 5 and woke up at 9. So I'm actually not sure if I'm suffering from a hang over or from lack of sleep. I think it's actually more the sleep thing.

When I got home I had a sleep in the basement and I ordered pizza for supper. Now I'm going to watch a Bollywood/Hollywood and go to bed really early.

Oh and I think I may have found a place to live come September. After much thought I figured that I may as well just get a place in Vernon. My original intention was that I would live in Kelowna but as I'm going to be on the road a lot there's no real reason to be in Kelowna. My friends down there all have lives and I'd rather not organize my life around the potential chance that I'll be hanging around with them when I can still do that and just drive down to see them if I want to. That and the fact that rent in Vernon is SO much cheaper helped the decision. The place that I may goto is a one bedroom upstairs suite downtown for $475 including all utilities & full cable! If it's acceptable once I've seen it I'd be silly not to take it.

Had a great day today! Again it was stupid hot and it's still really hot probably close to 18 right now at 1020PM. Today I went with my Dad to the raquet court and he taught me the finer points of racquet (sp?) ball. I have to say that after my first lesson I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to playing some more.

Tonight we went to the CASCAR races at the Vernon Sun Valley Speed way. Watched some really cool, 450hp cars rip around the track 100 time in less than 40 mins. It was awesome.

Now I'm sitting here in a really hot house with a very lonely medium sized border collie drinking a glass of wine and contemplating tomorrows escapades. As previously mentioned Jade is in town so we're going to spend all day boating with her parents then we're packing up and heading to Penticton for the evening where we're gonna party it up with some friends of mine. Thankfully we'll be staying at one of my friends homes overnight so we can stay out as long as we want.

One frusterating event of the day was when I called the E.I. office and asked them what the hell was going on with my claim. It's been about four weeks since I filed it and still no money. Now as you can imagine things are getting a little bit desperate around here at the moment and that's not good. Well it turns out that they screwed up ("we're so sorry!") and I'll possibly get my money in another 3 weeks! By which time of course I'll have been working again. Fucking Government institution! Other than that though a throughoughly enjoyable day.

All the sitting around I'm doing is making me fat! Better stop eating so much dessert :(

The past two days have been hot. Really hot. The house is almost unbearable even though I make sure to open doors and windowns every night and morning. It's just to hot to keep up. Everywhere is hot though so there's really nothing to be done about the situation. Good thing I like Okanagan Summer heat.

Tonight we did what we always do... watched a movie. I love watching movies in the summer. Tonight we watched Mighty Aprodite, a throughouly watchable movie. I enjoyed it but I have to say that I would much rather have gone to the beach. It seems that the people I'm around now don't enjoy going to the beach! How frusterating.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the long weekend. I'm supposed to be going to the car races with my Dad tomorrow night. Then Saturday plans are to go to Penticton with Jade and party it up with the Penticton people. I really hope the weekend is decent.

There really isn't all that much to report since Saturday's post. The weekend with Marcie, Frank, Tim and Lisa was fantastic. One of the best spontaneous weekends I've ever had. Sunday was my Dad's birthday party but I was so tired that I left at 7. This was fine though as the party consisted of a number of his friends so I didn't think it was a big deal to leave.

I think because of Saturday's events I was completely worn down and Sunday was the inevitable crash. So I've been recovering for the past few days. Tonight I had my parents over for supper, which was nice as it was kind of an interesting experience entertaining them for a change.

This weekend Jade has informed me that I'm going to be REALLY busy as she's coming down again for the long weekend. Apparently we're going boating and dancing and a number of other activities that she's got planned. Should be fun.

I've really been struggeling with myself the past couple of days. I think, as usual, it's a result of being overly tired but its been tough to maintain a realistic perspective on things. All things considered it's been a good summer so far.

Well today was a smashing sucess. Tim and Suzy just left which shows that Marcie and Frank got along with them well. We had a fanstastic day of drinking wine, eating cheese and going to the beach. The only kink was when Janet called and invited herself along and I had to brush her off. How do you tell someone that is supposed to be a close friend that no one wants them around because of the way they act?

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. We went to the sports bar at his raquet club and stuffed ourselves on Nacho's and wings for lunch. He seemed really happy with this.

A very happy occurance was when Marcie called and asked if she and Frank could come up for the weekend yesterday morning. Of course I told them they're welcome anytime so they arrived last night at 11. We're looking forward to a fantastic day at the beach. Thankfully the weather cleared up. Yesterday we had a freak storm and it rained for most of the day and the power at my parents house even went out. Today has dawned bright and mostly clear although there is a hint of the coolness from the storm left over still.

Tim and Lisa are going to be heading up this afternoon to come to the beach with us and then we're going to have a big meal and lots of wine! Three Cheers for Summer at The Barons!

Well I just got home from Mid-Summer's Eve of the Arts. It was fantastic an evening of amazing food, good wine, good company, and a great art auction. I'd been trying to make it for the past number of years but this year was the first that I finally made it. It was definetily worth it. Had a very good time.

Very typical day other than that.

Almost forgot, I got a phone call today from a company that is screening for candidates for a position as Marketing Co-ordinator for a small Hotel Chain with holdings in BC, AB, & Sask. Unfortunatly as I wasn't expecting the phone call and was really surprised that I had been called in the first place I don't think I really represented myself all that well. We'll see if they call back to set up an interview time for next week. Funny isn't it just when you don't really need a job you suddenly start getting approached.

Here's a tip - Never have a Martini w/ Tequila in it. YUCK! I just got back from having a drink with a friend who's in town. We went to Vernons happening 'new place' and were absolutely amazed that the place was jammed full of cougars, wanna be cougars and a whole lot of ugly bored guys. Sad thing is that you can tell that almost everyone there parties at this place regularly as they were all doing the running hug (you know the thing where people you know, or barly know, but don't really want to acknowledge knowing, come running up to you and hug you like your long lost best friends, yeah lots of that going on in there tonight) Mental note to self 'avoid Monashee's on Tuesday nights. Seriously people, who regularly parties on a Tuesday night!?

Today was smoking hot. Hit at least 35 I believe. Thank God we remembered to water The Barons plants. He called tonight to let us know that he'd biked 120kms today and was just loving it. I personally think he's crazy but, hey he's having fun! Lucky for him the temperature where he's biking is a little more moderate within the 22-27 range so far.

Well my sister announced to me today that she's not going to go back to Calgary this fall. Now I can't actually blame her for not wanting to live in Calgary but at the same time I'm worried that this will not be good for her. She plans on staying in Vernon and pursuing her singing (which I don't think I have to tell anyone is a bit of a treacherous career path). We'll see how this actually goes though because my parents have very wisely decided to stay out of the decision making process and let Sister make up her own mind. I know she's not used to doing this as her decisions have always been facilitated by my parents doing whatever leg work needed to be done so that she could do whatever she wanted. Not this time.

I was in a very odd mood this evening and decided that I should give one of my childhood best friends a call. I havn't really talked to him for years aside from running into him in random places throughout town. The fact that I actually called this guy kind of shows the loneliness that I'm feeling here. Not that I don't have good friends here, I just wish I had more. That and the realization that many of the people I know here are in transition just like I am. I'm not sure come September how many of these people will be here. Or rather where I'll be... instability sucks.

I'm getting pretty excited because I'm going to be having guests in a while. Marcie and Frank are coming up to go on a wine tour of the Naramata Bench in August. Looking forward to seeing them and introducing them to Tim and Lisa whom I believe they will just love.

Finally, I finished Harry Potter this morning. I do believe that this one is the best to date. The ending left me stunned and very sad as one of the main characters dies. I won't ruin it for anyone who doesn't want to know but I was shocked! SHOCKED I TELL YOU!

The trip to Vancouver was uneventful. I had a good time with my Dad though so that was nice.

Today has been fun. Raph's brother and I decided that we would go and see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I loved it. Such a great film. Jonny Depp was a really psychotic Willy Wonka but really great psychotic.

Like a million small children I rushed out today and bought the new Harry Potter as well. So far I think I'm on the 7 or 8th chapter and I'm kind of planning on finishing it tomorrow. Unlike Raphael I won't bother writing a long drawn out book review of it though as I'm sure you'll all end up reading the book eventually.

Aside from those two very exciting events I am completely and utterly broke. No I think destitute is a better word. No money of any kind. Not a great place to be in I'm hoping I hear about my EI claim soon and get some cash cause this is rediculous.

Well off to Vancouver to get my furniture. The weather is amazing and everything looks like the trip will be easy. Will get home just in time for The Baron's going away party tomorrow night.

This was the view from the house yesterday! Another amazing Okanagan Summer Day!

Feeling fine again! This virus is a bastard. One day your fine the next it's taken you out for three days at a time. Ok, enough virus talk. As you can see from the picture I posted I'm going to play around with this blogger site and see what I can do to make it that much more interesting. I'm also considering posting a picture of myself on it. We'll see.

Had a lovely dinner with the Baroness and clan. Then had a great coffee with my friend Ruth who is living in town again. Very happy she's here, helps to keep me sane. Aside from that downloaded a bunch of music today and did nothing else very productive. Rediculously tired now so I'm going to bed.

I'm so tired it's actually an effort to drive! Never experienced this before and man does it suck!

It's been a bit of a rough day. I think it's mostly because I'm tired and can't seem to be able to shake it. I think that I'll be taking a bit of time off tomorrow as well and going to sleep in as long as I can.

It kind of hit me yesterday that it has in fact been 2 years since I lived in Vernon and before that I was here for a year and prior to that it had been two years since I lived in Vernon again (does that make sense?). So I'm feeling like the 24 month kid tonight. Life's a big cycle and it seems that my cycle at this moment is determined to send me back to Vernon every two years.

You know how when your in high school and everyone is telling you that it's very important to go after your dream and don't do anything that you don't want to... well I wish that someone would have told me the truth, that life is mostly a drugery of things and events that are not pleasant and that you don't necessarily want to do but you'll have to do them anyway. I think I used to have this illusion that life is always supposed to be fun and filled with things you wanted to do and with people that you wanted to do them with. That illusion is waning. Life isn't bad and it doesn't suck it's just not what I had hoped it would be.

Yay! I've got my computer set up and I'm back online. SO very happy. The Baron gave me a new keyboard as well which is very nice but it's one of those split jobs with the eurgonomic curve which is proving to be a bit of a speed bump at this moment as this is really the first thing that I've typed with it so far and it's taking me a bit to get used to.

Had a great day today having dinner with friends in Westbank and just visiting. Really enjoyed that. I also went and helped the guys from my Dad's church to unload a truck for some new person that had just moved into town. Went to my parents house for food. Hung out with Sister, etc. All in all I think I put a LOT of kms on the car today. That's one thing about being in the Okanagan is that because I know and have friends up and down the Valley I always end up driving a lot to entertain myself. Good thing I LOVE my car.

Now I'm really tired and need to go to bed. Good Night!

Well I've firmly established myself at The Baron's and life is reasonably good. I remembered how small of a town this is today when I went for a blood test after my Dr. appointment and ended up sitting next to a guy that I knew from my first job at the A&W... yeesh. Possibly because I'm really tired I'm having somewhat mixed feelings about being back here now. Well no not so much mixed as I fully remeber why I wanted to get out of here now. Everyone my age has left. There are very few 20 somethings in the Valley. Strange how my job is bringing me to a place where there are fewer not more people.

So tired. I hate being sick. I'm so tired for so much of the day that it just sucks. At least I'm sleeping better now. I'm officially moving to The Baron's tomorrow. I dropped off my computer and a few other things there today so I'll be back online shortly with a much more stable connection. My Dad has this wireless connection in his office that hardly ever works and makes me crazy most of the time because it will never give a stable connection. I spent about an hour today trying to figure it out and I know the connection is there and working but there's a friggin software problem that I just can't seem to figure out. So frusterating.

I didn't end up going to Penticton last night. I was at a BBQ with the ball team when I realized I was too tired to see straight so it was time to go home. Instead I picked up a copy of Halle Berry's Catwoman. Not the best show I've ever seen but not deserving of the derision it got from the press and the general public.

Had an argument with The Baron about Live 8 and the fogiveness of African debt. I don't think I need to tell anyone which side either of us were on in that argument! Ended as it usually does... each of us walking away figuring that the other will come around eventually.

Sometimes Janet just infuriates me. Jade came down for the weekend and Janet needed another girl for her softball team. She asked Jade if she wanted to play and she accepted. Janet treated her like trash on and off for the entire weekend. My Mother hypothsied that Janet is jealous because I was paying more attention to Jade, for the obvious reason that she didn't know anyone else, which singled her out. Unfortunately I don't know if it is just jealousy or if it's something more given how she's acted at the past two wine festivals. I'm getting pretty tired of this.

Sorry for the long silence. This week has been somewhat of a blur. I packed all my stuff and left Vancouver on Wednesday. The drive home was good and very quick. Fortunately one of my friends from Vancouver was coming down to visit her family this weekend as well and was able to bring a carload of my stuff as well so now all that's left in Vancouver is my large furniture items.

Thursday was the beginning of Funtastic and I was designated the official score-keeper so our team 'No Balls Barred' played their first game and kicked ass. After the game the team went over to Janet's parents house and sat around on the deck and enjoyed some drinks. After a few hours of that we went up to the Army base where there was a U2 tribute band playing (they were surprisingly really good). Unfortunatly Jade (my friend from Vancouver, who's playing on the team) and I lost the rest of the team and after an hour of wandering around through 300 teams of drunken ball players we decided to leave. I called Sister and as she was on her way to the club Jade and I decided to stop in and dance a little.

Yesterday involved more ball and a feeling of complete and utter exhaustion for me. I managed to stay up for the fireworks celebrating Canada Day but that was about it.

This morning I woke with the intention of going to the teams first game but woke up extreamly dizzy. Apparently dizzyness is a byproduct of Mono. So I lay in bed and watched the room spin for a while then got up and took a gravol. Thankfully the dizzyness is almost gone now but I do have a bit of a headache.

Tonight I'm supposed to be going to party with some friends in Penticton... but at this point I'm really not sure if I'm gonna make it. If I don't start to feel a little better it's just not going to happen.

I've been staying with Mom and Dad for the weekend as The Baron has a houseful of people for some church event. I'll be moving to his place on Monday and start doing work for Dad in the office this coming week as well. It looks like for the first two months that I'll be staying in Vernon almost exclusively and working in the office. Then come September I'll be starting out on the road.

The weather this weekend has been somewhat yucky. Alternating between hot and sunny to hot and cloudy with lots of wind and now today it's going to be cold, windy and rainy. Have a Great Day! And because I missed it yesterday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA!