Today I learned that someone on campus passed away. I don't know the circumstances but I do know that it was a woman, a member of staff. When I was told her name I went "what?!" I thought that this woman who died was someone who had lived up the street from us when I was a kid. On the way home, I called my mum to find out what had happened (because my mum is wicked connected to the grape vine for such matters) and she told me that I had her confused with someone else, same last night, different first name. It's a really uncommon last name though and the woman I knew as a kid does work on campus so it wasn't a crazy mistake to make. The weird thing about it is that I felt relieved when it turned out to be someone I didn't know. The relief lasted for a couple of seconds. It took me that long to realize that it was just as sad and tragic for her family, whether I knew them or not, and that for someone to die in the prime of their lives, suddenly, was just horrible. In the middle of this revelation, my mum told me that a friend's mother passed away suddenly, on Sunday. It seems like every other day recently, someone we know is dying. I hate this getting older shit. This stuff almost never happened 10 or 15 years ago.

Tonight is Canadian Idol night. For the second summer in a row, I'm totally digging the Idol. Tonight is the last night of the top 32. Our man Brock is up tonight. We've really liked him since the first time we saw him and I'd like to see him go the distance. So far, I have no disagreement with the folks who have been picked for the top 10. Last year, it seemed like the folks who were voting had their heads safely stored inside their own asses. Some of the folks who got into the top 10 last summer sucked ass in a BIG way. This year's crop of singers does seem much better than last year. One of the nice things about not liking the kind of music that the Idol-wannabees perform is that you can be very objective about the competition. Unfortunately, the bad performances have not been bad enough to be amusing. I really miss WB Superstar. I totally loved Jo Jo and Mario and miss them a lot. The other day, we heard the theme song from Footloose somewhere (over a sound system in a store I think). Mark and I both looked at each other, smiled and said, "I miss Jo Jo." Forever more, Footloose is Jo Jo's song!

One thing that made me smile today: Mark went back to work today. Due to a bunch of weird circumstances with the guy he's been working for, he's not been able to work since before Canada Day (he actually took the holiday Thursday off voluntarily but was off the road on Friday, Monday and Tuesday through no fault of his own). He's been driving cab for 3 years now. For the last 14 months or so, he's been driving for this guy who lives around the corner. It had been a good / bad situation. The good part was that the guy lived in the neighbourhood so Mark was able to walk from our house to where the cab was parked in like, 4 minutes and the guy who owned the cab (Mr. F), wasn't a hardass. The bad part was that Mr F. isn't a hardass. He'll spend money on the car but only when his back was up against the wall and then, only the bare minimum that he could get away with. Because I can be cheap about things, this makes sense to me on some levels but, this car itself is on it's last legs. When forced to do so, Mr. F. has been throwing good money after bad to keep it on the road almost the entire time Mark's been driving it. Fortunately for him, Mark's an excellent driver and he's nursed the car along. During May and June though, the car started to die. You know that kind of slow, painful death that cars have? One day the brakes go, the next day the steering, etc...etc...etc... Mr. F. does not get the idea of "speculate to accumulate" it seems. He'd been telling Mark for a while that he was going to replace the car with a new vehicle. This never happened though. Rather than replace it, he kept repairing it. The money he put into the car to get it safety'd in May and pay for all the repairs he's been doing could have been used for a down payment on a new car and he'd be making money hand over fist. If he had bought a new car, Mark has a buddy, another driver, who would drive nights on it (Mark drives days) and between the two of them, it would never be off the road. As it's been for a few months now, he can't find anyone to drive it nights so it's been parked a lot. Anyway, on Sunday night after dinner, we took a walk down to Mr. F.'s to find out if it had been repaired. Turns out, Mr. F. decided to take the car off the road for the summer but he hadn't bothered to call Mark to tell him this. Mr. F. had been vacillating for a week about the decision. If he'd made a decision the week before, Mark could have had a car lined up for Monday morning and not missed a beat. As it was, it took him Monday and Tuesday this week to get a ride. I was a little annoyed. Mark was too. Not because Mark had to find a new car to drive, but because Mr. F. didn't say anything for a week. Mr. F.'s big problem is his indecisive manner. It can be really frustrating at times. So today Mark's back at work and the guy he's working for now, Mr. H., seems cool. Mark's happy to be back at work and I'm happy too. I'm happy because he's happy and I'm happy because neither of us will be worrying about money like we've been the past couple of days. You can tell yourself all you want, that it's just a couple of days and it'll all work out but it is still there. On the whole though, so far, so good (touch wood)!