taking care of business

Well yesterday, I was so busy taking care of business that I neglected to blog; I did, however, accomplish all the other things I wanted to do, so it was a good day. Some things I did yesterday:

did my laundry

forearm day

watched a movie with Laura

studied Mandarin

installed my digital camera

One thing I did not do yesterday was go down to the beach with Paddy & mini-Paddy to shoot pellet guns. Foo also declined because he was too tired; my reason was that it was 2:00 AM and I had promised to do stuff with Laura today. I sort of regret not going, but I can imagine having greater regrets doing it (for example, having the van taken away, or being imposed with a curfew). In this case, my stance is that it's "better the devil I know than the one I don't." Were I, on the other hand, in 'unique experiences' mode I might have been more interested... also in the last few days before I go to Taiwan, I may be more prone to fun & erratic behaviour.

Speaking of which, Helen Dyck (of Thomas Cook Travel) phoned today to say that my airline ticket has been purchased, and my visa will arrive at her office tomorrow. This means that I will definitely be going to Taiwan on August 20th of this year. I'll be leaving from the Nanaimo-Collishaw Airport, so on the off-chance you want to see me off (or make sure I'm gone), that's the last chance. Afterwards, I will hopefully post a year's worth of exciting blog entries about my stay in Taiwan.

Today, I went downtown & had lunch at Delicado's with Laura. We then browsed various downtown bookstores, though I tried not to spend any money as my breakfast/lunch cost about $6.00. I gave a toonie to some homeless beggar guy though. I saw Laura off at the City Centre bus exchange (see bus map) and then went to my Mandarin class. It was challenging; Swan made us do some pretty hard conversations/dialogue. It worries me that my speaking skills are so weak, but I will keep trying--I can't afford to stop now that I am 100% committed to this upcoming Rotary Exchange.

I haven't been to any Rotary meetings recently. Apparently, 'guests of Rotarians' & 'visiting Rotarians' aren't so welcome to their fun meetings. The club has been touring various local businesses, which I would very much like to do, but I am not invited. Oh well. I bought a new journal at Staples and then went home for a while. Dinner this evening was @ the old folks' home. The food was excellent as usual: I had chicken noodle soup, breaded veal, and strawberries & cream for dessert. Afterwards I played Mendelssohn's "Andante Sostenuto" on their piano but I sucked a lot. Drove to T'ai Chi and then returned home again. My day has ended videogaming with Foo, and eating rice pudding.

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