The holidays can't come soon enough - I am tired. Yes, tired of work and school and no days off, of commuting to and from Toronto, of scheduling social events three weeks in advance just to make sure they fit in. That said, I am very happy and ultimately in great humour. I had a very nice weekend despite the work and whatnot, because I saw friends, had a good time, and ultimately got to spend some quality time with...

eBay?

Oh shit, ya. Let me tell you a little story. When I was a kid, around seven years old through until I was ten or eleven, TVO used to air the television adaptation of John Masefield's Box of Delights. I watched this special every year, no matter where we were going for dinner or with whom. Then, suddenly, it stopped being aired. I never forgot it and I watched the TV listings year after year in the vain hope that I would find it. I knew it was based on a book, but I hadn't ever read it. When I entered my teens, I started to look for the book. These being the years before mainstream Internet service, I had to roam around in used booksellers and hope for the best.

Needless to say, this quest carried on into my twenties. I could find other books by Masefield, but never Box of Delights and no book shop ever called me back to tell me they had found a copy. A break through occured when I was near to finishing university, when Julie, my mother's best friend, scored a major coup. She had found it - or at least some of it. She had gotten her hands on the paperback version published at the same time as the television special first aired, 1984, which had been abridged to only what was in the film version. I was thrilled, and yes, it was just like the movie.

I hadn't known it was available abridged until that point. Thus began a new quest: to find the complete volume uncut. At the same time as this, I had begun to scour specialty video stores in the hope of finding the film version, too. I knew it was out there, but I couldn't find it. I started using the Internet a couple of years ago, but I had so little money that when I did come across it, it was either in the PAL format and would need to be transfered for viewing in North America, or it was simply too expensive. Also, I wanted to make sure it was complete, because, like the book, there seems to be an abridged film version, too.

So, flush with paycheque and no longer living on my own and paying rent, I signed up for eBay, a thing I'd carefully avoided until scant days ago. You see, I found not only the movie, but two versions in print - one a fairly recent imprint illustrated by Quentin Blake (hooray !), the other the first edition hardback imprint from 1935. I'd entered a bidding war over the latter and never expected to actually win it. And, in the mean time, I won both the video AND the other book.

In other news (continued at 1am Monday morning): My very good friend, Nicole, and her beau threw a party to celebrate their love and announce their betrothal. Yes, they'll be handfasted with flowers in the Spring, so now I'll be attending three weddings and a handfasting in the space of five months. Thankfully, I don't have to be a bridesmaid. The party was a very good time and I let my hair down for the first time in months and months and got drunk. Actually, I can't recall being -drunk- since He Who Shall Not Be Named's victory party last November. Damn, I am so responsible. Anyway, it was a great time for me with merry-making and socialising and was fine for Rick, until the taxi ride home. It seems not being able to drink responsibly in social situations runs in the family. Poor kid tossed more than cookies.

I purchased my gift to the couple at "Christmas Street" at the Bay. It is a terrifying place. I plan to take my camera in and get pictures in the freakier themed sections (like "Peter Pan and his Fairy Friends" - I kid you not). I wish them a life of love and respect for each other and happiness and other important and positive things.

And now... to bed.