Hello faithful readers of this diary. The one or two of you are really awesome. ;) I don't blame the others for not stopping by anymore, my once cool-looking diary now looks like a whole bunch of crap since my gold membership went belly-up. *sigh* I think I'll put up a graphics-free design temporarily, at least until I can afford a gold membership again.

It's funny how things work out though, one moment you have enough cash that you can pay for things like this without blinking and the next moment your job is gone and you return to dependency on your parents and what was once a small amount, suddenly becomes too much to even consider. Enough about economics though.

I'm still in Canada until Sunday or Monday and I'm finally at a house that has a wireless setup, so I can play catch-up on my laptop. After an 8 hour + road trip from Chicago, I arrived to see my family on my dad's side, most of which I haven't seen since my paternal grandmother's funeral around 4 years ago. I'm having a nice time though. I attended a Christening last Sunday for one of my nieces. I'm still not used to the idea that I have a whole bunch of nephews and nieces just north of the boarder. Am I getting that old? =/

I also had a chance to see some of the sights around Toronto, like the downtown area and the Royal Ontario Museum. I also had a chance to hang out with a few of my cousins. I even had a chance to go clubbing last Tuesday to a place called Budo. The place was pretty packed for a Tuesday night. I guess the nightlife is a lot healthier in the summer since the legal drinking age around here is 19 and most of them are on summer break for college and what not.

The prices for drinks, especially my kind of drinks were killer at that place. The current conversion rate is about $1.30 CAN to $1.00 US. Even so, it was a hefty $20.00 CAN ($15.38 US) for a Grey Goose martini and the glass wasn't even filled to the rim. When I ordered an Absolut Citron on the rocks with a twist, I got a single shot in a large rocks glass instead of the usual double or triple serving that I'm used to in Chicago. If I wanted a double or triple I had to order and pay or it accordingly. That kind of sucked because it was $7.00 CAN ($5.39 US) a shot making a triple shot $21.00 CAN ($16.17 US). I'm telling you, catching my buzz, at least at that place was fucking expensive as hell.

Still, I had a really cool night. Although the cousins my age are off getting married or already married with children, it's good to know the younger ones are around to pick up the slack and party with ol' derrick. So OK, maybe it's just me in my drunken buzzed state and I was just imagining things, but why was my cousin's friend, the one that came in with her boyfriend throwing serious vibe at me. It was the kind of vibe that I would totally treat as a "go" signal, had the person who was most obviously her boyfriend not been present. I'm talking constant eye-contact, smiling and other stuff I'd consider hardcore flirtation. Luckily I wasn't so buzzed that I actually made a move though because my cousin later confirmed that she was indeed dating that guy she was with, so oh well... =p

All of it, the drink prices and the chick with a boyfriend who was flirting with me was enough to make me say WTF? to myself. Speaking of WTF moments, I'm starting to catch myself saying words like "out" with a Canadian accent. It's really a really subtle yet weird thing and I'm really, really trying to resist the urge to turn statements into questions by adding the phrase "eh?" at the end of it. It's difficult when people keep throwing it at you, eh? *grrrs*

Anyhow, I also attended an anniversary party for one of my uncles. It's interesting how different my uncles are compared to my dad. My dad though I love him to death is sort of a health freak, which means he exercises, he watches what he eats and worst of all, he doesn't drink or smoke. I swear, he had me on this nasty-tasting protein shakes for the first couple of days I was here. Not the stuff I was thinking of eating on my vacation, but I was a good sport so I played along. Honestly though, I think a few drinks would totally loosen the guy up and make him more cool like some of my uncles. Oh well...

The final event is rolling around this Saturday, one of my favorite cousins to hang out with back in the day is finally getting married. I'm not sure how it worked out but her and I seem to click quite easily. It's only natural I be around for her wedding. I'm sure I'll have a nice time with the open bar and all. ;) I guess that's it for now, I'll enjoy the rest of my R&R and will probably update when I get back to Chicago.