It's 2009. It's Summer Time.

School’s Out – Alice Cooper

School’s out forever. School’s out for the summer.

That’s how this ultimate classic by Alice Cooper goes, and although my school wasn’t “completely” finished, I had an early start to the summer that definitely felt like school was out!

Compared to my fantastic summer of 2008, I didn’t think ANY summer could live up to my adventures in 2008, but respectfully this summer came in close if not surpassed that summer. It’s a tough decision. Though I have separate blogs on some of the events that happened this summer, this blog will attempt to be a recap on everything.

Being in university, my summer started early this year. Instead of the typical end of June, summer started two months early at the end of April. However, I decided to take a summer semester that ended at the June, so it was almost the same as being in high school. The difference however, was that everyone else was done school, so I still had many more adventures in those two months than I did in most of my summers. One of my biggest advantages for the summer was that I had a car in Ottawa for that semester. I had bribed my parents to let me have the van for the semester and they agreed!

We’ll start of with month 1: May

May was an extravaganza of its own. At the beginning of the month, one of my new close friends from University drove down to Montreal and saw the legendary Ms. Britney Spears in concert for her “Circus Starring Britney Spears” tour. Being a fan since I was little, it was definitely a concert I was excited to see and she did not disappoint. Her lip synching was a given, but her performance of the show in general and awesome choreography and entertainment in general made up for that fact. It was my second favourite concert of the year after Lady GaGa.

The following week I made my first (of many to come) drive home from Ottawa to Toronto. My roommate and I left Ottawa at 3:00 am because we both couldn’t sleep and had a road trip of our own back home. Though we live together, we hardly have time to socialize because of our busy lives so it was a good way for us to get reconnected. That weekend I took my cousin out on a surprise birthday part at Wonderland and got to ride the Behemoth. It is definitely one of their best rides and I urge everyone to check it out…if they dare. When I drove back to Ottawa, I had two of my high school friends come back with me and stay with me for a week. On the car ride back to Ottawa I received my first speeding ticket. I definitely wasn’t happy about that. During that week we tried to do as much as we could from checking out the Haunted Walk of Ottawa to eating beef tartar and bar hopping in Montreal. It was in that week that I heard I won a trip for two to LA (another entry of its own) that would take place the following week.

By the end of that week, I drove my friends back to Ancaster, but this time the van was more full. My Ottawa friends wanted to go to Toronto for a weekend and we figured that weekend would be best since I was going back there as well. Thus, we all had a tight ride back to Toronto. There was a little drama in the car, but by the end of the weekend it was all good. That weekend in Toronto was a secret as my parents didn’t know I was back that weekend. I stayed at my friend’s house in Ancaster and balanced hangouts with my Ottawa and Toronto friends a like. When we drove back on Sunday, I had my best friend come with me as she was going to come to LA with me.

Once we got back to Ottawa, I had two days before I went to LA for 3 days. Again, this is a separate blog of its own. Just like that, May had come to a rushing end.

Month 2 of my pseudo-summer: June

June was more of a study oriented month. May was filled with so much early summer rush, if I hadn’t paid for my summer semester, it would’ve felt non existent. Consequently, the first few weeks of June were spent studying while doing little things here and there in Ottawa. Checking out movies with friends, editing a music video project I was working on (shame on me, it’s still not done), and spending a lot of time with my sister and her kids. It was a month of special occasions as well! My brother got married and it was also my sister and brother-in-law’s 10th anniversary. The first two week of June was spent with that excitement.

The following two weeks of June brought more adventure. I went back to Toronto again. This time it was to attend my second Lady GaGa concert as well as the MMVA’s. This mission to Toronto was top secret once more like last time and my parents had no clue. This time instead of staying at my friends’ (though I did for one night), I spent two nights in the streets of Toronto partying it up (see MMVA blog entry). I went back to Ottawa, did my final exams, got hired at Wal-Mart (yes, third time’s a charm), and saw more movies with friends. June ended with a literal bang as my friends and I made a road trip to Montreal to go clubbing at one of the hottest clubs, Opera. There were about 10 of us; we shared a hotel and had an amazing time. When I got back from Montreal, I had one last exam on June 30th that concluded not only June, but became the “official” start to my summer. It was funny how that worked out.

Month 3 – The official start of my summer: July

July was a summer where I started working again. I got a job at Wal-Mart and I started working there. Because I’ve never worked there for more than 3 months during the 2 separate occasions I’ve worked there, I was hired on the occasion that I stay there for more than 3 months this time. I started working in the Deli again and also got a new phone, the Blackberry Pearl Flip. This also meant I signed my life away to Rogers for 3 years. In between work, my family came and visited me and subsequently took the car away as well as the summer semester was over
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Within July, I saw some more movies and also went back home to Toronto for a few days. In that time I got hired by Swiss Chalet (a restaurant that I not only love, but that is situated right outside my apartment). As a result, I had to do the unthinkable and abandon Wal-Mart. I still feel bad about it to date, although some people tell me there was no need to feel bad as the company itself is “Hell Mart”. I also went cottaging for a weekend in Quebec with my sister and her in-laws. It had been a while since I had seen them all so it was a lot of fun. I kayaked in the lake for the first time and also rode on a paddleboat in the middle of a lake and eventually got stranded. Our companion who was kayaking with us had to attach her kayak to our boat and drag us back to land. It was embarrassing. That weekend I also got introduced to late night poker and wore my Lady GaGa Poker Face glasses while playing. It definitely set the mood.

As the month came to an end I had a friend from Ancaster come visit me for a few days and we had some good times. I also had a friend from Kitchener who visited me and we went to a club in Quebec. It was at this club where I was introduced to some new tracks that are now dominating my iTunes most played. I also sold my ferret by the end of the month as my roommate was moving out and it was the best solution we found on how to share the ferret…we sold her and split the profit. Haha.




The final month and a week of summer – August / September

August was a month that involved a lot of travelling as well. The first week was spent in Ottawa just working, however it was in the second week that it started to get crazy.

During the second week of August I went on a family vacation to a marina in Ivy Lea (a few km away from Kingston and Brockville). During that week we pretty much did nothing but bond as a family and go tour the city we’ve seen every year for the last 4 years. We went to Kingston, Brockville, and Gananoque during the week and had the opportunity to eat at the Ivy restaurant at the marina where we had some of the best French Onion Soup and scallops we’ve ever tasted!

The following week I went back to Toronto for a few days where I had dinner with some forum friends, visited Ancaster, and saw Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince with my cousin. It was the same day that Toronto had experienced one of its first tornadoes (well at least from what I remember in my 19 years of living) and we got footage of it while driving back from the theatre. Had we not turned left when we did, we may have been struck by it. It was definitely exhilarating. That night we had no electricity and the lack of light brought us closer together. I understood what a real candlelight dinner felt like.

When I went back to Ottawa that weekend, my buddy who had also come in May came back with me for the weekend. That was probably one of the best weekends I had all summer. We chilled, saw movies, played Super Mario Bros (all weekend literally, it took over us) and also went to club Mansion. We had a great time and when he went back to Toronto by train, I joined him and spent another week in Toronto.

That week was also the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan and oh how the days were longer to keep fasts! It was a challenge I was up for and surprisingly after the first few, they weren’t too bad. During that week in Toronto I did a lot as well; I spent time with friends in Ancaster, saw a close friend in Brampton, and hung out with my cousins. When I went back home that weekend I was met with boxes! My roommate was in between packing everything to move out so the house was all over the place.

The end of August approached that week as my roommate moved out and a new roommate (who’s also a friend of mine) moved in. The move was bittersweet. As happy as I was to see my new friend move in, I was sad to see my old roommate move out. Though we had our fights and whatnot while we lived together, our friendship came first and we were and still are the best of friends and that’s all that matters in the end! That week I had the weekend off from work so I went back to Toronto…yes I know, how many times will I go back? But it was my last visit before school started. During this time I met up with my Brampton friend again and we had our moments, and I also saw some of my family’s friends and my cousins. I went back to Ottawa and my last day of summer was spent with a friend I met in Quebec during an exchange I did back in 2006. We spend the evening together and had dinner at the Works, a classic place to dine if in Ottawa. As that evening ended so did my 4 month summer, 2 of those that were “official”.

As I reflect on what I just wrote, I am still undecided on which summer was better. Yes, this summer I may have done things of much more excitement but summer of 2008 was filled with some lasting memories of my final summer as a high school student. As always, I am thankful for having such great summers and such awesome adventures each year. Its depressing to see school start again, but I am really excited to start a fresh year at University. YEAR 2! I am excited for some of my favourite shows to go back on air like Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives as well as continue some unfinished series such as Hells Kitchen. Work and school will occupy a lot of my time this semester, but after the summer I had, I can’t complain! Here’s to an awesome summer and an awesome year of University to come!