rfmcdonald | Trip Chronology: Monday to Wednesday (Reply)

I worked from one to five in the afternoon on the PEI files, basically photocopying articles and pictures relating to the infiltration of coyotes onto PEI from the mid-1980s. (They fill, it seems, an ecological niche opened up by the destruction of most of the Island's predators.)

After work, I went down to the Comic Hunter, where I met up with teridian. We went down for a walk on the waterfront one last time, then over to Dooly's to see everyone else for one last time (london_calling for the first time since her return, her brother for the first time ever).

The next day, I worked from 8 in the morning to 1 pm, the last time I worked at the PEI library. When I went off, I proceeded to do things for the last time: I had my last Cow's ice cream, I picked up a nice leather binder, I had lunch at Formosa Tea House. Then came the dentist's office. My teeth with the filling, towards the front of the left side of my mouth, hurt then; they still hurt whenever I eat or drink something cold or hot. He didn't know why. That's what December's for, when I return.

I completed my packing that night. I decided to move the bulkier stuff--bike, computer, most of my clothes--in a moving van, for convenience's sake.

We--as in me, the parents, and the sister--left the Island at 10 o'clock, and got to Moncton at 12:30. I couldn't meet Steve there as I hoped, but things went well otherwise. I bought two albums--Bif Naked's greatest hits album, because she's cool, and the Ace of Base greatest hits' album from their Arista years ("The Sign" et al.) just because it's entertaining.

Lunch was at A&W. Mom and I split one offer--two burgers with fries for five dollars--meant for one person. In the previous day's Guardian there was an article about how people newly installed in universities tend to gain weight, two-thirds, owing to gorge reflexes when faced with an abundance of free food in the context of a stressful academic experience. It reminded me that being a member of a minority is good.

The train left at 5:50, and I settled in. I worked on some 2300AD stuff, on a German colony world over at Groombridge 1618. I also edited a friend's excellent short story, about the travails of a teenager trying to negotiate a school swimming team marred by hazing.

Sleep, of course, was not a possibility; at least, not a realistic one. Power naps, now.