Monday morning and my sorry ass is STILL locked out of the good ole C B of C. Funny, I used to lament going to work on Monday mornings... What a difference a labour dispute makes.

I had an alright weekend, I don't mind telling you. After failing miserably as a picket person on Saturday I indulged myself with 4 hours of Margaret Laurence. It was awfully fantastic just to sit and read. And thankfully The Diviners was plenty engrossing enough to distract me from the flattened boxes and packing tape littering my apartment. I did remove the magnets from my fridge before stumbling up to bed. In my world, that counts as packing.

Yesterday, I went to "Goat Days" out in Abbotsford. And nevermind, it was totally fun. I was too chickenshit to milk a goat, but I did stuff myself with free cheese samples. I also picked up some nice ashy goat brie to bring to my dad.

After exploring the goat farm it was off to visit my parents. My brother is visiting from Regina and my sister and her bf stopped by. My mother served us an impromptu meal of corn on the cob and poppyseed strudel. Tasty, yes.

We unsuccessfully tried to harrass my brother into saying grace. This is something my nasty and very non-religious family found quite hilarious. My brother married a "believer" and has been attending church for the past few years. He refused to indulge us, however, and kept his composure when a taunting chorus of "Ira is religious" erupted to the tune of "Na Na Na Na Boo Boo". My poor brother. Mind you, flash forward to the Rapture and who will be laughing then? Hmm, perhaps I will ask him to put in a good word for me on the sly.

Wow, my apartment REALLLLY isn't packing itself up. How rude. I reckon I'd better get on it. I MUST get at least one room completely into boxes by this afternoon. After that it's off to the picket line. I feel disconnected from the lock out line and I'm running out of stories to tell. The line is fertile ground for a writer. I will be among the people and eavesdrop.

Oh and hey, thanks for all the emails. Despite myself, I must admit people are rather good. This chafes at my misanthropic hairshirt a bit. What I mean to say, is that I may be falling in love with the human race all over again. I serenade you all "Say Anything" style.