before you met me I was a fairy princess Yesterday I had the day off. It wasn't a planned day off - I woke up and had a headache, then discovered that my apartment building was lacking in water of the hot variety, thus making showering for work a bit of a challenge. It all pointed to me staying home, so I did.

On days like that I like to drop by the compound and visit with Gina (and whichever of her children are home - usually just young Ella these days). When I lived at the compound, I was in the loop with the family. I knew how everybody was doing without having to make a special trip. Lately it seems like weeks go by before I squeeze in a visit (you've heard about my hectic life, haven't you). So it's nice to hang out with Gina and get caught up on all the little things. It's good to feel part of a community again.

In the afternoon Devin and I paid a visit to our local Chapters-Starbucks. I had the brilliant idea that I would start researching the city of Ottawa in conjunction with my pie-in-the-sky plan to attend Carleton next year to do another undergrad degree, so I headed to the travel section and picked up a book about Ottawa. I would really like to do some on-the-ground reconnaissance, but a trip would be expensive, so for now I'll just trust all the people that say Ottawa is wonderful and we'll go with that. And I'll stay put drinking fancy coffees and playing virtual tourist. On my days off.  | ¶ 6:29 p.m.