The rest of the family arrives today, which I'm loking forward to as it will shake up the routine around here and hopefully cheer Dad up. He's been keeping to himself a lot since we got here, and my social skills are not evolved to the level where I can easily engage people in conversation on uncomfortable issues. It's also scary to me, being at the point in my life where I'm working towards having some kind of stability in my life, to see that that stability is far from guaranteed - even brains and a great sense of humour can't keep it at bay.

Intestingly, I just finished reading The Alchemist which is a lovely book about finding one's destiny and knowing when to rest and when to act or change. Alhough I found the story itself male-centric, the message was universal, at least to anyone who believes in unknown forces outside themself that act upon their lives. It fits very well with my pantheism and I've started looking at the events around me in a different way because of it.

Unfortunately, I've almost blown through all of my reading for this trip and i need to take a trip to a bookstore soon to restock. I think I'll pick up something by Garcia Marquez since I've been dying to read some of his work ever since my Spanish prof Florencia made such a big deal about him this semester.

I now have plans for New Years: I'm going to see Joel Plaskett with Jenny (not the roommate, a different Jenny) at the Marquee. She's a great concert buddy, as I learned when we went to see Hawksley during the Halifax Pop Explosion. I miss everybody in Halifax and I'll for sure be making some phone calls once I get back.