January 2003

It's increasingly hard for me to get excited about new years. This New Year's Eve my brother and I hung out, playing Worms Armageddon until about 10:30 pm then looked at each other and said, "I'm tired. Goodnight."

So as you can tell, a new year isn't a very exciting thing to me.

However, this new year was a rather exciting turn of the calendar page. I hinted at why in my description of New Year's Eve. The hint was that my brother and I played Worms Armageddon, which won't run on Mom and Dad's P100.

Ah! you say. So he didn't spend the New Year's at home!

Well, that depends on your definition of home. I spent New Year's here in St Catharines, with my brother.

The natural follow-up question is, "But your brother lives in Hamilton... why would he be in St Catharines?" (Admit it. You were asking that.)

(OK, you weren't asking that. In fact, some of you were likely going, he has a *brother*?)

But yes, my brother and I were chillin' in St. Catharines after packing most of his earthly treasures into mom and dad's van, which we then drove out to the east coast.

I promise I will not bore you with a lengthy account of the drive to the coast and back. But I did want to note that I finally made it to the east coast, and BOY WAS IT COLD.

And I also wanted to note that I am able to order a motel room in French. This skill came in handy exactly twice, at the same motel, on the Trans-Canada Highway just outside of Riviere-du-Loup.

And I also wanted to note that Canada is a beautiful country, and I am very proud to be a son of this nation. From the McCain French Fry factories in New Brunswick to the DEPANNEUR signs in Quebec, from the cold Atlantic breezes of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia to the snowsqualls on the 401 blasting off Lake Ontario, it was a trip I will not soon forget.