"There has never been anything false about hope?"

We've been talking politics at the breakfast and supper table again, which is lovely. Nothing like a healthy dose of cynicism and conspiracy truth to make you cheery! *big grin* On a totally unrelated note; to my friends in the states, we have a spare room in the house and a lot of places in town are hiring! We could hang out! Ahem.

Moving right along...

My brain has been feeling muzzy for days, but on Monday it really got bad, due to a touch of the flu that's going around. By bad, I mean I was having serious difficultly telling reality from imagination. By process of elimination I'm pretty sure the time in line in Toronto Airport was not real. But other than the physically improbable events, I kinda have no idea what I did. If I talked to you on Monday, I'm sorry. I don't know what I said. *cough* But then I slept for fifteen hours and now I'm fine! *is normal and borderline sane*

What else is new? Oh, I'm starting to think about what I might possibly do after I pay off my debt! One big option is to go to a university. My year at Augustine is worth a year and a half on transfer in at least one place, which is quite good. However, I'm not really a big fan of the post-secondary to get a high paying job school of thought. For one thing, I'm not really feeling called towards any degree program that does promise high wages upon graduation, and I don't think I have the dedication or talents to get my doctorate and teach within a college. Which leaves the earn-a-philosophy-bachelors-to-get-a-high-paying-job option. Somehow that's not calling me very loudly either. However, someone, (you probably know who you are,) pointed out that you can ALSO go to university for the pure joy of learning! *vistas of joy open up*

And then, I looked at costs and asked some people in University their opinion of it from the inside. I'm looking at about fourteen thousand a term, with tuition, living expenses, books, travel, and occasional entertainment. *enthusiasm dampens somewhat* Moreover, the reaction from most of the people I asked about university from the inside was "good idea to go back to school! (watch out for debauchery.)" *enthusiasm dampens more* It was rather startling how uniform the reactions were, really, after being adjusted for dialect and personality. 

So now I'm leaning more towards option two; Backpack across Europe! It costs less, with the right travel companions you learn as much, and it makes for much better photo albums. Also I want to clamor around in castles again. And I could learn languages! *enthusiasm is fanned to full flame* Does anyone want to come with me? You don't need a Visa!

Yesterday I walked to the other end of town and back, which is a fun walk. (The turn around point is Tim Horton's, for one.) I decided to be wild and crazy and wear my lovely new red coat and my pin-striped fedora, so I got a lot of stares. I do tend to dress a little different from the average citizen of this town, it's true. Walking out of Tim's was especially amusing, given all the puzzled and/or shocked eyes on my back. I was also wild and crazy in that I was carrying my camera, so here are a couple pics of my walk! (The order got jumbled, I'm not sure why.)

The Government Wharf

Busy Downtown!

Yes, we have proper snow clearing equipment. 

Yes, those are rabbits, hanging off a step ladder.