Wednesday - 19 -
Woke up, showered and headed for Ottawa. It's a six hour drive, so by the time we get there, we're fed up with sitting in a truck, but tired from sitting for that long. We all check into the hotel (which is actually pretty nice) and throw our stuff all over. Outside we get a view of various buildings. On one rooftop, there is a small door and a pile of bottles. I looked repeatedly over the next few days to see if the dwarves/midgets/fairies/whatever returned to drink some more, but never saw any. Of course, there was also a strip bar, where we laughed at the spelling and then laughed at the drunken idiots that stumbled out of there. After that amusement wore off, we met Poptart for dinner at a nearby pub.

It was actually so warm that night that I had to wear a tank top. That's just insanely warm. So we sat out on the patio and hung out for a few hours. Normally I'm freezing my ass off in Ottawa if it's not summer (remember, it's 6 hours north of where I am normally.) so it was surprising to find myself thinking how warm it was.

Thursday - 20 -
Woke up and after a few hours of doing nothing, went out for lunch at the hotel restaurant. It was actually a pretty cool place (it had cool wooden masks on the walls) and the food was really good. Afterwards, Ver had to go work, so Mzebonga and I were left to wander the city. It was inanely HOT. As we were wandering around, we began finding ways to walk around in the shade because it was just getting to be too much.

That night we went to watch Poptart play at a bar called Bassline Station. It was open mic night, so we got to see a number of musicians play. Poptart hosted the night, playing some of his Too Stoned To Bobsled songs. We all drank, got loud and had fun. I went home with one of the bartenders tshirts.

Friday - 21 -
After waking up a bit later than usual (due to drinking the night before?!) we spend the day hanging out waiting for Poptart to get off work. We meet him at the War Museum so we can wander around.

The big exhibit was about war propaganda. The second world war section featured the most insane images. Their website doesn't show the more twisted images, but it was amazing to see just how insane everyone was. I'm glad I didn't have to live through those times.

There were tons of little informational plaques and such to explain what we were viewing. I know this sounds a little silly to say, but the last museum I went to (ROM) was so poor in quality that it was good to finally see one get it right. While this war museum is rather large, it keeps you moving well, has lots of little sections to wander into and even though it's showing you some of the worst moments in human history, it's encouraging us to not let this happen again, or continue now.

Poptart noted that we were the only people in the gallery taking photos of the displays. Perhaps they thought we were being odd, or taking it all lightly, but really, why wouldn't we? It's our view of these items, and our way of digesting bits to remember them later. It was quite odd to realize that we were standing less than two feet away from Hitler's touring car. For some of us, seeing something like this in person made it seem somehow more real.

Of course I've read and been taught all about most of these things, but seeing so much of it together was quite insane.

It's too bad that this sort of stuff has gone on, and continues on today. If all those lives and dollars were focused on something else, space exploration or anything then maybe it wouldn't be such a waste. Anyone who stood up (or stands up) to such horrible events and tries to do the right thing for their fellow human, then you have my sincere appreciation. After absorbing all that, the evening wound down quickly, as we knew we'd have to wake early to head out to Huntsville.

Sunday - 23 -
Spent the morning recovering from the night before, then put on some jackets and headed out to the quartz field down the road. Huge boulders of quartz were all over, just waiting to be dug up and cleaned off. I grabbed a few larger rocks for my mother (who likes putting them in her garden) and then a few smaller pieces for myself.

I took a number of photos, and after wandering back, hung out for the rest of the day. I got a lot of drawing done, outlining a lot of designs I had drawn lately. Once they get their second color, they'll be complete. At least I've been reducing the amount of photos I've been taking, as it was getting out of control. While I still took a couple hundred, it's a lot less than before. The trick is to take less photos, and the few I do, to make good.

Tuesday - 25 -
Finally got some much needed sleep in my own bed. Spent the day slowly unpacking, relaxing, and watching Mzebonga complete the final mission for GTA : San Andreas.