The beaver is a proud and noble animal

Katy managed to find a team of wild horses to drag me to see King Kong. I really wasn't loking forward to see it, I dunno, it really didn't appeal to me. After seeing it, I'm still bleh. It's not the worst movie ever made, but I really annoyed the hell out of me. It could easily have been a half-hour shorter and has plot holes big enough to drive a Mac truck through. The female lead character annoyed the hell out of me and all in all, this movie is way too in love with CGI. So, all in all, I've seen it and Katy enjoyed it, so that's ok.

We went to see her uncle Michael and her auntie Mina. That woman can cook and her kitchen smells like indian heaven :) I got a new curry recipe which I will be posting as soon as I type it up.

Ottawa customs were a bit of a pain, with me having to unpack my laptop from a massively overcrowded backpack. At least I don't make the metal detectors go poing anymore these days. Bobbles and Parsley were great hits with the customs people who made us open our bags for verification of odd shapes (I had a bottle of wine, Katy had hjars of pickled beets). The kiddies were the source of lots of ooohing and aaahing, which made us giggle. The flight was uneventful, save for the fact that there were 4 people sitting behind us instead of 3. One kept crying all throughout the flght, the other kept kicking the seats. I am now a firm proponent that small children should be sedated and fly with the pets in the cargo hold. Heathrow was a breeze and now we're in Leicester.

We're both completely zonked out. We had a bit of a nap in the afternoon… except that now the sun is down so we're getting up so we have a small chance of actually sleeping through the night.

I'm doing a bit of cleaning up in my friend list, removing people/communities that I tend to not read/skip over. If you find yourself in that group, it's nothing against you, I just want to streamline the stuff I read.

I'm watching Iron Chef for the first time in 8 months. This makes me happy. I don't miss a lot from living in the UK, but Iron Chef is one of those things :)

I must've been really, really nice this year. It seems that I've been celebrating xmas for two weeks: in Leicester, in Montreal and at my parents'.

It's weird though. It's xmas day itself and I think I'm a bit xmas'ed out. I just want to spend the next few days doing SFA. I have some books to read and some music to listen to and I'm going to be a very happy camper.

If you're curious what I got, in no particular order:

my hoard!

I'd also asked as a joke for a foot of snow. My mom decided to improvise by dumping two bags of glitter confetti on my head (which required a shower to get rid of – that thing itches like mad!).

In other news, I've decided to give Boris to my sister. I wouldn't be able to bring him over for at least another 10 months. We can't move until april (and it's still not guaranteed that we'll find a pet-friendly apartment) and then there'd be a 6 month delay for bloodwork to be processed. It would be unfair for both Boris and my sister, cause they're really bonding together and he's really, really settling into her apartment. He eats her plants, he showers with her, he sleeps in her bed. It just wouldn't be right. So… yeah. She'll take care of him and I'll still be able to visit once in a while.

Speaking of the pussycat, he's currently sleeping somewhere downstaits. He's getting a bit braver. Apparently, he was up nosing about upstairs during the night last night and even jumped in my parents' bed. That did not go well with the little doggy. That's her bed :) Still, there's been no real pet-induced chaos, so that's good.

Katy was musing out load at what my extreme make-over would include. Apparently, I need a brow lift, cosmetic dentistry, liposuction and a tailored exercise regime. When I started goofing about the breast enlargement and the brazilian butt lift, she started choking with laughter. When I mentioned the penis enlargemnt kit I got in a spam, she said the words all men yearn to hear: it's adequate. *chuckle* I think we scared my sister with that conversation :D

Mom: when are we opening our presents?
Me: midnight?
Katy: you don't open your presents on xmas?
Me: we're ones to talk, we opened our presents on the 19th…

Things I have learned today:

- Two people can fit in the tshirt I'm wearing today. My sister and I have demonstrated this fact.

- We drove down with more things than can be (or rather should have been) fitted in a small car.

- We're starting to feel a bit rundown. I've been having weird headaches and Katy's voice/throat is giving her a bit of grief. I think it's a good thing that she's going to be seeing her ENT when we get back, if only to swear at him.

Besides that, my parents are going warp-speed at the thought of all of us being here for the holidays. If my mom gets any more giddy, she'll run the risk of spontaneously combusting. She's been up since 4am.

There is a definite possibility that we will explode from the massive quantities of food that my mom is offering us. All the time. Constantly. I have secret fears that she's trying to fatten us up for nefarious purposes.

Boris is currently hiding somewhere in our basement. His first meeting with the little dog might be a bit traumatic. We'll see.

Lets see what I can write about the last few days.

When we got to my sister's place last wednesday night, there was a power failure and we were all wearing tuques and scarves inside the apartment. We went to bed (which was nice for snuggling) and zonked out. We were still on UK time apparently as we were up at 7am to have coffee with Nat.

Headed to Eggspectation for breakfast, where we didn't get to steal a nice full-colour menu but we did score some take-out ones so at least Katy has a souvenir for her scrapbpook. Did a bit of window shopping then headed to the Jardin Botanique and the Biodome before meeting up with people for sushi. The garden has to rank as one of our favouritest places in Montreal. In winter, it's beautiful. Had a bit of a panicky moment when I walked into the Biodome with my shiny new camera. Going from minus digit very dry weather to a tropical rainforest enclosure means that your lense fogs up to hell and gone in the blink of an eye. Go figure. That sorted itself out when we entered the boreal forest enclosure and saw two otters getting it on. So cute!

Sushi was, in a word, glrrmph!!! It sort of freaked me out a bit. Michel and I used to go there every two week or so, sometimes more. When I moved to the UK, Michel continued to go there because it's damn good fish. The management kept on asking about me, and expressed sadness when they were told that I moved overseas. When Michel made reservations last week and told them I was coming, they not only still remembered me (remember that I've been gone since April), they were looking forward to seeing me again and made a huge fuss when we got there. I mean, dayum. I know I was a regular but we never exchanged more than polite conversation. Gave me a nice feeling in my heart but made me blush as well. Sushi was reeeeeeeally good too! It's nice to see that all my friends from various backgrounds like each other.

Then there was Hurleys, which was a bit of a letdown :S It was full of people and we had trouble finding a table. A friend showed up and though I was happy to see him after a such a long time, he pissed me off to no extent by spending the entire evening speaking french to his girlfriend, even though I'd explicitely told him that Katy's french was poor. Hell, he didn't even say hello to her properly beyond introductions. What also pisses me off is that I didn't realize this sooner. Since my french and my english are just as good as each other, I honestly lose track of which language I'm speaking. It's really unfair for Katy when that happens. To be perfectly frank, I'm less than impressed at the boys for their attitute around Katy (this doesn't apply to the people around the sushi table – you all rock and we love you for it). The only person who's made any effort to speak in english to her is the one whose english is the poorest. I appreciate him all the more for that.

Todays plans were a bit hectic. We met Michel and Isablelle for a *very* early breakfast then pootled a bit downtown. Katy's legs were feeling the walk from yesterday (which was made all the worst for not being used to walking in ice and snow). We were supposed to meet the Sequence folk (my old employers and coworkers) for a sushi lunch but – in what seems to be a repeating picture – those plans fell through from lack of time and lack of energy. I went to have coffee with one of the guys (as he was the only one there, the others being called away to other commitments).

So tonight, we're going to take it easy. Katy is in her jammies, I will soon be in mine and I'm going to cook some curries to thank my sister for letting us crash at her place.

-It's shocking that if I miss a day of LJ, I have to scroll back 140 entries to catch up. I think I'm watching a few too many communities.

-Chocolate milk in canada rocks. It tastes so much better than what I can find in the UK.