... and originally I had been on a plane to the UK that leaves at 1 pm from the Montreal airport.

However, a string of events have kept that from happening. Just a rundown:

• The organisation that was supposd to be putting me up for my six weeks in Koeln (World Youth Day) notified me in late June to tell me that they would not be able to provide me with the accomodation that I had been promised. Another reason to despise the Catholic Church

• The break-in really ate up a lot of the funds that I had set aside for my Germany adventure. However, it provided me with the opportunity to do some rational
thinking...which was scary...and realize that I didn't have nearly enough funds to do what i wanted to do, just at this moment.

• It turns out that the individual I had wanted to go to Koeln to see, no longer lives there. He's since moved to Berlin. Which complicated things mucho.

• Finally, I discovered that I just wasn't ready to leave Montreal just yet. I was actually getting quite choked up about the prospect of having to leave my beautiful city. One more year, and then I think I'll be ready. Here's hoping for a really rough winter.

So right now I'm still in Montreal (not London, where some people had assumed I had returned to post-graduation), plugging away and trying to get myself motivated. Right now I'm working with two NGOs (working, in my sense, means not getting paid...must stop this habit), writing articles, editing newsletters, and revamping their layout. Not a complete waste..in the meantime, i'm enjoying finally getting to see my city in warm temperatures. And after meeting with a career counselor, I feel a lot less like I have no skills and will never get anywhere.

The house has been a bit weird lately, but I suppose that's expected. We're planning a surprise birthday party for Elke, and it should be interesting how that goes down...what with Benjy's constant stream of gay lovers, Matt and Luke's homo-erotic friendship (really, what else could they be doing, drinking white wine and listening to Billie Holliday alone on the dark deck for 8 hours until 4 am four ngihts a week...), Julia's constant need to prove she's "better" than me (at what? I didnt realize we were in a competition), and Leandro trying to get everyone else drunk on this god-awful Brazilian alcohol he insists on feeding us. Should be an interesting party.

In other news, Sean (my bro) is having a blast in Australia..just returned from a week of camping in the outback, where I understand he ate kangaroo, emu, and crocodile. Now he's somewhere in Sydney. I'm going to try and post a pic that he sent from Grampian National Park.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/396255905/396256410oRiroW

That probably won't work, but it was worth a try.

I'm not feeling too bad about my postponed trip..especially since I can use the flight until next April. But a part of me is sort of wondering what would have happened if I had made it to Koeln.