For the first time, my group of friends at work had organized something that interested Pat. We had been saying to have a wine and cheese party for quite quite, and this Thanksgiving weekend I push it to become reality. The most important thing is the wine and cheese, which is taken care of by Steven who is our culinary expert. Jackson offer to host the party and Ivy taken care of the sushi dinner and head counts as usual. Steven bought six bottle of wine, three white, three red to the party. He also prepared matching cheese, bread, biscuits and dry fruit. We played foosball, pool and NHL 06 while tasting the wine. Steven also gave us a brief tutorial on wine pairing. The principle is very simple, strong taste wine pair with strong taste food, vice versa. After the wine tasting they start the poker game, but I have to go home early since Pat is getting tried. The party is very fun, much better than just the usual eat and then gamble party. Most important, Pat enjoy coming along to try something new and play with snowball.

Today I have accompanished many things, I also helped Pat fixing her sink. The sink is clogged for a few months and draining very slowly. Finally Pat can’t stand it anymore, bought a home maintance DIY book and make me do the work. Fixing the clogged sink is easier than I had expected. Just unscrew the drain at the bottom of the sink, take out the cock to remove all the hair clogging the drain. Pat said that I am very man while doing the plumbing work. The upper stair toilet is now officially reopened.

I went for dancing shoes shopping today. Since I had started learning ballroom dancing with Pat, she always wanted a proper pair of dancing shoes, so finally we decided it is time to buy one. A dancing shoe is very different from normal shoe. The bottom of the shoe is made of leather instead of rubber, the purpose is so that you can slide easily on the dancing floor to perform the turning moves. Originally I only want to get the cheapest pair to get by, but the economy one is really uncomfortable. I have flat feet, so the top half is very tight. I ended up buying a Diament pair, which is made in Germany, and doubled my budget. With this expensive pair of dancing shoes, I must learn to dance well so that I could match up well with my shoes.

Last night I went to Eucharist adoration at St. Mary with Pat in the evening. After the adoration, I followed her to the coffee house of St Mary’s young adult group. They have meeting every month on the first firday night and it is lead by Fr. Mark. Last night is theme is having a discussion on controversial subjects regarding the Catholic faith. Topics selected including female priest, the meaning of scaraments, confirmation at young age, allow priests to get marry, decline eucharist to pro-choice politicians. The atomsphere is very friendly, although people have different point of views, we have lots of laughts making ridiculous comments. Also it is very informative to have a father giving us background on the church’s official teachings, regardless of wether we agree with them. I always thought only converted priest from the Orthodox church allowed to stay marry, but it turn out this rule also applied to protestants. There is obviously a loop hole in the system to allow someone have all 7 scaraments. The disscussion makes me feel like a uncle Victoria Park, which is kinda fun. I won’t mind if Pat ask me to go with her next time.

I have a small good news today, then later I got another better news which turned the first one into a bad news. First the guide book of the Louvre and Orslay Museum finally arrived. Although I pay more for the shipping than the books cost, I am glad that I able to order it over the internet to replace my copy lost by Air Canada.

In the evening, while I was having dinner, I got a call from Air Canada said that my luggage is found and will delivery to me later at night. After it had got missing for a month and a week, I have a mix feeling about the return of my luggage. I had already written it off from my memory and let insurance compensate my lost. It is great to have it back, but it is even better if I could money from both AC and Travelcuts, which is estimated over a thousand dollars. The delivery time is so inconvient that I have to go home early from badminton game, and ended up waiting for two hours. It is really bad service of AC. The wrapping of my backpack is gone, but everyone inside is intacted, including those months old dirty clothes. However my 1L bottle of holy water from Lourdes on outside is gone, probably drunk by someone.

Now I have a dilemma, with the return of my luggage and the museum books within, I end up with an extra copy of those guide books. If anyone is interested having one, please let me know. I am going to sell it at cost, 17 euro.