I had to get up yesterday early to call Cameron, and I meant to get up at 8a, but since I do not have an alarm, I got up at 7.25a.

It's funny how it works that way, but I have found that when I don't have an alarm, I can get up as early as I like. When I do have an alarm, I hit snooze, I turn it off in my sleep, I sleep late, all kinds of things like that, when I don't have an alarm and I have to be somewhere early, I wake up at dawn.

It's like not having an alarm makes me be a grown-up.

So I woke at 7.25a after waking up about four other times all night long, and decided just to get up and go to breakfast.

It wasn't as hot as it was the day before, which would have been difficult without the ground melting into lava, and I was thinking, "Gee, it's not so bad today, it's kinda hot, but not too bad!" and then I realized that it was not yet 8 o'clock in the morning, and the fact that it was not too bad really wasn't saying much.

I had an egg and some toast and then went over to my phone booth at the corner of Yonge and Charles and called Cameron while watching person after person try the phone that didn't work before moving to the one that did. You know that you've spent too much time at a particular payphone when you know exactly what will happen every time someone walks up to them.

It was around 8.30a, maybe not even that, but I thought that she might be up already. I was kind of a little bit wrong, but there you have it. I always figure that if I'm up, everyone is up because, I guess, the sun rises and sets straight up my ass.

We agreed to meet later, and I was horrified to discover that Lush doesn't open until noon, so I was destined to see Cameron with dirty hair. The dorm provides soap, just like a real hotel, so I could wash, to the great relief of everyone who had to stand near me, I'm sure.

We met at the Starbucks at the Chapters over on Bloor. I never go to Starbucks, so I ordered a hot chocolate. "What size?" "Whatever size you people call small." It wasn't so much a day for hot chocolate, but I don't drink coffee and there ain't anything else in a Starbucks for me.

Cameron came a little while later, and we sat and talked for a bit, and I gave her the pictures I had blown up from her wedding last year, then we went down into the other, less crowded Starbucks downstairs (yes, it is a two Starbucks store) and drank our beverages.

Then we started the walking and the shopping. Actually, for me it was the pre-shopping, since I had no money until my paycheck got deposited today, so we went places and I said, "I'm getting that tomorrow, and I'm getting that tomorrow!" and I think that I really will be going back and getting some of it today, but not all. Shopping without money is a real time-saving activity! And far more practical than will-power, which can fail miserably.

She knows so many good stores! There was a stationary store that about brought me to my knees (I want a fountain pen!), and the Canada Ballet store and a place that sold art, and, most importantly, another Lush! Because I could only buy small sizes, I did not get my favourite shampoo-conditioner-body wash, but ones that I just plain like rather than adore. I don't mind! This means that I get to go back again tomorrow!

We also visited her wedding dress, which she leant for a window display and is completely beautiful. She looked at it in the windows and said, "My God, I am short!"

We also went to a big department store to see a friend of hers, and entered a contest to win a set of expensive china if we could guess how much the racecar balancing on top of four teacups weighed.

She, in order to prove to me that I am a big doof, took me to the Toby's that I couldn't find the day before. It was on the other side of the street that she had told me, but I had looked on that side, too. Unfortunately, it was right next to the condom store, and I really couldn't be expected to see anything but the giant erection in the window.

Had she said that it was to the right of the giant erection, I might have found it, but otherwise I really didn't have a chance. The food was extremely good.

Then more shopping, then ice cream! It was a really full afternoon.

I limped home and watched Say Anything with the commentary on DVD, then called Cameron later, because I was going to meet up with her and Rob to see Minority Report.

She gave directions to get out to where we were going to see the movie, and she told me to start at the Bay/Bloor subway station, which is apparently on Bay and Bloor. I say apparently, because I certainly couldn't find it.

I looked high and low and then high again, but nary a Bay/Bloor station did I see. Just like I couldn't find Toby's, on Yonge and Bloor. And last year, Amanda and I could not find Bloor street at all. The only conclusion that I can come up with is the Bloor street does not like me, and hides when I come around.

Anyway, I went to Museum and got the subway there, since I had dropped Cameron off there earlier, I knew that I would be able to find it, not to mention the fact that it is nowhere near Bloor St., and thus is stationary.

When I went in I found that it wouldn't have mattered had I found the first station, since that train wasn't running anyway, due to a medical emergency (which Cameron and Rob later declared meant that someone had jumped in front of a train), and my going to the next stop to catch that line meant that that part of the line should be running again by the time I got to that station.

I had to wait for a bit, once I got there, along with half the city, but a train finally came and we all crammed onto it. I barely got on--the door closed on my dress, in fact, and I found it very difficult to get it out. If I couldn't have, it was okay, because even though the next time those doors opened was like eleven stops later, I was going even farther than that.

They had been waiting rather a long time by the time that I got there, but at least it wasn't my fault for not finding the non-existent Bay/Bloor station. We drove to the mall where the movie theatre was and grabbed some dinner at what was the most authentic-looking fake Irish pub I've ever seen. They said that all of the fittings were authentic, and the floors and the ceiling beams and so on.

I was forced against my will to eat some sort of peculiar Canadian dish called poutine, which is basically fries with cheese and gravy. Now I love fries and I love cheese fries, but I loathe gravy, so I protested mightily, but they insisted. And I had to admit that they were actually pretty good.

Then we saw Minority Report.

It seems to be a tradition for me now to go to Canada at the beginning of July and watch a Stephen Spielberg movie while I am there! Last year, Amanda and I saw A.I., which we loved beyond all measure, and this year Cameron and Rob and I watched Minority Report, which we loved beyond all measure! The only difference was that with A.I., we were against the tide of public opinion, and this time we were right with the flow.

My God did I love that movie. I thought it was incredibly plotted and acted and directed, and that the special effects were so good that I almost never thought, "Hey, look at that special effect!" It was really exciting and twisty and incredibly moving and I loved it with my whole soul.

Samantha Morton, from my beloved Jesus' Son, was excellent, Max Von Sydow was his usual best, Tom Cruise was very strong, and I'm sure I would have loved Peter Stormare had I seen more than 30 seconds of his performance, but you know I can't watch anything that has anything to do with eyes.

O, hey, and did anyone else notice that the man on the bus reading the USA Today and seeing Anderton was Cameron Crowe? I figure that Spielberg did that little cameo in Vanilla Sky, so he did one in this movie. A little tit for tat.

Here's a couple of little spoilers, so I'm whiting them out. Highlight the paragraph if you have already seen the movie:

First, just an observation of how much the denouement is like The Fugitive, with the bad guy being feted and getting his comeuppance right there in front of all of his peers, and second, I think I know what the title stands for. It's not what everyone thinks the minority report is, that one of the pre-cogs saw something different about Anderton's murdering that man, but the real minority report is the story that Agatha told about the dead child's life, that was the other possible future, but it didn't happen. Pretty clever, ain't?

Anyway, after the movie they drove me all the way home, which I thought was awfully swell of them, since it was a very long drive, and Cameron and I arranged to meet today and go to the Royal Ontario Museum.

And I went to bed, and that was Day Two of my vacation.

Today's horoscope:
Fun with friends! Sociability, laughs, and recreation are highlighted. Be casual and carefree.

One year ago today:
I could barely stand to listen to it so much that I rewound it and listened to it twice.

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Last Updated Wed 18 July 01:37:09 2002