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Well, here I am at long last. Where do I even begin to tell you all the things that have been going on since my last blog??!!! I guess I’ll just have to give you the Reader’s Digest version. lol

One day at the end of February, as I got home from work, I saw that lots of people were leaving the building and, as people were coming through the front door, I heard the fire alarm. So of course I couldn't go inside. The fire department came and did their thing. The sprinklers in the basement had turned on but I didn't hear the reason for the alarm. The firefighters gave the all-clear so we all went back inside. It was the first time I'd ever been outside during a fire alarm because ILC's policy, for those of us with disabilities, is that if you are inside, you stay in your apartment so that the firefighters can come and get you in the event of a real fire. I've heard the fire alarm many times when I've been in my apartment but I've gotten so used to it that I always assume it's a false alarm. So it was weird to see it from the other side. And I have to admit I didn't like the thought of there being a real fire in the building while Asti was in here on her own.

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On March 7, I went for my Saturday workout with Al. I was thinking he might cancel because it was his birthday that day. So I was very honoured that he chose to spend some time helping me workout on his birthday.

Early that afternoon, I took the bus to Toronto. My Aunt Cathy, my mother, and my younger sister were heading up there too. We were invited for supper at my older sister and brother-in-law’s house. My older sister is a great cook so of course we enjoyed the meal. After supper, my younger sister, mother, Aunt Cathy, and I went to The Princess of Wales Theatre to see The Sound of Music, my all-time favourite musical. It was great!!! They changed the story just enough to give us something new to see but not enough to ruin the story compared to the movie. I could have sat through another showing right after the first one!!!

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On Friday, May 1, I went to Centre in the Square to see the Osmond Brothers...Wayne, Merrill, and Jay. I had asked my "sistah" Petula if she wanted to come with me, since I had my friend Sue’s ticket. Sue hurt her back a few weeks before and was out of commission then so she sent me her ticket. Petula said she’d go with me but when I phoned her that afternoon to confirm, I couldn’t leave a message on her home phone because her mailbox was full. I left a message on her cell phone but she didn’t return my call. So, when my ride came at 6:45, I had to leave without her. When I got there, I waited in the lobby, in hopes that she would have her significant other drive her there, but she never showed up. When I couldn’t wait any longer, I got in line and went to my seat.

I had a bad day that day and was feeling really down in the dumps. So when Petula didn’t show up, I only felt worse. But then the lights went down in the theatre and the Brothers appeared on stage. The show was entertaining, high energy, funny, and musically wonderful. That concert was the best possible medicine for someone who was feeling blue. At one point during the concert, Merrill said he sensed that there was someone in the audience who was in need, or something along that line. I thought "Oh, he must mean me!" Of course there could have been many people in that audience who were needing something or someone so the statement could have referred to anyone. But I was sure Merrill was talking directly to me! lol I left the theatre feeling great!!!

I had heard in advance that the Brothers were going to have a "post-concert event" the next day. But I was hoping that no one would mention it during the concert because I thought that the more people who attended the next day, the less enjoyable it would probably be. But yes, they did mention it that night so I was worried that there would be way too many people there.

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The post-concert event was held at a new Latter Day Saints church in Kitchener. I had a feeling that the event might be something spiritually based but I wasn’t sure what it would be. I got there early enough that I had time to use the washroom and then I was led to a seat in the church. When I entered the church, it turned out to be a side door and the seat that the usher led me to was actually halfway down the aisle. I asked if there was somewhere else I could sit because, if I sat in the spot they wanted me to, I wouldn’t be able to see or hear anything. So they led me to another seat...in the front row!!! Woohoooooooooo!!!!

As we were waiting for the event to start, there was a video playing at the front of the church. It was the video of the Osmonds’ last concert as a family (Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie, and Jimmy). It was held in Salt Lake City. If I’d known that that particular concert was going to be their last as a whole family, I would have done my best to get there. But I didn’t know about it till after the fact. Anyway, the part of the video that I saw had some things in it that I had just seen the Brothers do the night before, so that was neat. On the video, though, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was backing them up, so that was even neater!

Then the event started, with the Brothers walking right past me to get to their seats!!! The event began with a hymn, the words to which were projected onto a screen at the front of the church. I thought that was a great idea in terms of creating a feeling of togetherness, but I didn’t know the song so I couldn’t sing along.

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Then the host, probably a leader of the church, welcomed everyone. He said that a woman would sing a solo, which I think was called "The Love at Home" and then each of the brothers would speak. The soloist was fantastic!!! When she was finished, the host turned to the Brothers and said "See, we have talent here too!" I thought that was funny!

Then Merrill got up to speak. He talked about some of the challenges he has faced. I thought he might talk about his diabetes but he didn’t. Instead, he talked about the fact that he tried to commit suicide at 18. I was stunned. I am a huge Osmond fan but that was one thing I never knew before. Merrill talked about how he has battled depression for many years and, although he takes medication, he still struggles with it. That made me feel very connected to him, since I have had many struggles in my life that have led me to feel very depressed. But I really admired the fact that this person who has spent his life in the limelight got up and admitted that he tried to kill himself when he was a teenager. His talk was powerful and yet very funny at times too.

Then Wayne got up to speak. He is the comedian in the family so he threw in a bunch of funnies as he was talking, some of them from the concert the night before. They were funny even the second time around! He talked about his battle with brain cancer in the mid-90's. He wasn’t supposed to survive so he talked about how grateful he is to not only be able to watch his children become adults, but to watch his children have children. He was very inspiring.

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Jay spoke last. He doesn’t have any health issues that I’m aware of so he spoke more about the Latter Day Saints and how his faith has helped him, etc. He encouraged everyone to find out more about LDS. He was funny too but his talk was the most preachy of the three of them.

After Jay spoke, they had a question and answer period. I asked about their family dynamics and whether their parents had taught them to be sensitive to the needs of their hearing-impaired oldest brothers. I mentioned that my family often does things I can’t do, so I was wondering how their brothers felt about that. They didn’t really answer my question directly but Merrill said they have learned a lot from their oldest brothers. It was Virl and Tom who actually taught them to play instruments! And they always talk about how they got into show business originally to earn money to buy heairng aids for their brothers. So, even though they didn’t answer my question exactly, I felt inspired and uplifted. And I was glad I asked the question because I figured that it set me apart rather than just being one of a billion fans in a crowd.

After the question and answer period, the host said the Brothers would now sing a song. Then, when that was over, the host invited us all to have refreshments...and meet the Brothers!!!! Woohooooooooooooo!!! So I got in line and met each Osmond Brother and had my picture taken with each one. When Merrill saw me trying to get through the line up, he asked the people around me to move over so he could talk to me. I thought that was great. He remembered me from asking my question and he wanted to follow up on that. He said we all have our challenges and that he has a son with the same hearing impairment that his oldest brothers have (of course I already knew about his son). He said he learns a lot from his son. I thought to myself "My family could learn a lot from me too if they were only open to it." But I didn’t say that.

When I arranged my rides to this event, I had no idea how long it would be but I hoped that two hours would be enough time. It started at 10 and by 12 I had only met one of the Brothers. But someone approached me and told me that my ride had arrived and that the driver was willing to wait for a few more minutes. That was just enough time to meet the other two Brothers, talk to them, and have my picture taken with them. And then I had to leave. It was a great event though, and one I’ll remember for as long as I live...as long as I don’t get dementia or something like that! But, even then, I’ll have my pictures to look at! lol

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In June, Al suggested that we (the guys in my building, myself, and Al) go to karaoke. It was fun. We went again a week or two later. Steve was the only guy from my building who came that night. At one point, a woman came up to Al and asked him to dance. So he said yes. Shortly after that, Steve’s ride showed up so he left. So there I was, at the table by myself. After Al danced with that woman, he didn’t come back to the table and just stood there talking to her. I was not a happy camper! Finally, after about a half hour, he came back to the table. He could tell I was in a snit. He asked what was wrong but I just said "Nothing" because I didn’t want to get into it right then and there. And he took my "Nothing" literally, so that made me even more upset. I thought my tone of voice would tell him that I was not happy.

The next day I was still upset so I phoned him. He didn’t answer so I left a message saying that I was upset and wanted to talk to him but not at work. He must not have heard my message clearly because he phoned me...at work! Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! I wasn’t ready to talk abou t it but since he phoned, I felt like I had to deal with it then and there. So I mentioned that I was upset because he left me at the table by myself for so long, etc. At one point he asked if I would have been any less upset if he’d been talking to a guy. I said no but I wasn’t being totally honest. I would have probably been less upset if he’d been talking to a guy. But, after thinking about it carefully, I realized that it wasn’t so much the fact that he was with a woman that bothered me but the fact that he didn’t come back to the table after the dance. So I ended up telling him that. We ended the conversation after a bit but, at that point, I wasn’t sure whether we were okay or not. So I phoned him at home the next day and apologized for being upset with him. He said "Oh, I’m glad that’s over!" I admitted that I might have overreacted and he admitted that he was in the "Me Zone" that night. So I felt like we both learned something from the experience and were better off for it.

The next time we went to karaoke, that same woman asked him to dance but, after the dance, he brought her over to our table and I was totally fine with that. We all joked around and at one point she said something about how I can have him when she’s done with him and I said "No thanks, I don’t want someone else’s leftovers." So I was not in the least bit upset by any of that. So that just goes to show that I wasn’t as upset about Al dancing with her as I was about him leaving me alone at the table the previous time.

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On June 26, I turned 50. On the 27th, I had a party, which I planned all by myself for the first time. It turned out really well, although several people I was expecting didn’t show up and didn’t let me know they weren’t coming. My family was there, including my Aunt Cathy. The only sibling missing was my brother Leo who lives in Texas.

I had invited my "sistahs" Debbie and Petula but Debbie didn’t make it. Petula was a great help in setting things up beforehand and she was fun too. Al came too, and I was thrilled with that. He was very attentive and sweet and even helpful before the party started, without my asking him. He just got busy making some punch which turned out really well.

I had mentioned at work that I wanted to have karaoke at my party so one of the staff members came up with the idea for all of us to pitch in and buy our own karaoke machine, so we did. So I had that at my party. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that there was only one karaoke CD that came with the machine. I had attended a karaoke night a few weeks before and the host of that night had some other karaoke CDs from somewhere and I thought they all came with our karaoke machine. So my karaoke night didn’t turn out the way I wanted but I had brought my own regular CDs so I sang a few songs from them and that turned out well. My younger sister and I sang Abba’s "Super Trouper" and Al just spontaneously joined in as our backup singer to sing the "Su-pah-pah, Troo-pah-pah" part. It worked out beautifully!!!

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One of my birthday gifts was a "partially inclusive" trip for two to Vegas to see Donny & Marie Osmond as well as the Osmond Brothers. I had already been e-mailing with a travel agent about that very thing because the Brothers were going to be in Vegas for one weekend, August 28 to 30, and Donny & Marie are doing a show in Vegas on a long-term basis. I couldn’t possibly miss an opportunity to see six of the seven performing Osmonds all in one place in one weekend!!!

A week or two later, Al and I went to karaoke. I think the other Al came too but he sat somewhere else so it was just my Al and me at the table. He was making me laugh continually for the first half of the night and then suddenly he disappeared. I looked around and saw him at another table. He stayed there for the rest of the night while I sat alone...again.

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The next time Al and I went for a workout, he told me that he met this woman at karaoke and she was sitting at a table with a guy who was trying to get her attention so Al thought he’d provide some "healthy competition." I asked him if it worked and he said "Of course." My heart sank. The next tim we went for a workout, Al told me that he and Darlene had become inseparable. And they’ve been seeing each other ever since. It has been extremely difficult for me, especially because once he met her, he started ignoring me in terms of workouts. Not only did he not workout with me, but he never even bothered to call me to let me know whether we were working out or not. So I was really hurt all summer.

And beyond his ignoring me for workouts, he had brought the karaoke machine here with the idea that we would practice the song "A Whole New World" so we could sing it at karaoke. He never came to practice the song. One day I went to work and saw the karaoke machine in the small meeting room at the front of the office. I asked Jim if Al had brought the machine in and he said yes. I mentioned that it was in my apartment and Al hadn’t asked me for permission to go into my apartment and get the machine. I was furious!!!! I phoned Al and told him I was very upset about it. He said that Head Office needed the karaoke machine for the ILC Family Picnic. He said he was in a hurry to drop off the machine so he didn’t have time to call and ask me for permission to get it. He said he got two attendants to go into my apartment and get it. When he said he didn’t have time to call me, I thought...how long would it have taken to call me??? Five seconds???!!!! He was going on and on about why he did what he did and I felt like I was listening to my former boss, who was a total jerk, who would always talk as if the end justified the means, no matter what. I figured there would be no talking to Al at that point so I just ended the conversation.

So yes, I had a really hard time this summer. There were no workouts and no really good chats. Instead, I had to deal with going to karaoke and seeing Al and Darlene being all lovey-dovey with each other. The first time I did that, I was clenching my fists so tightly that I almost hurt myself.

Gradually things improved between Al and me and at one point he asked what I’d like to see happen. I told him that I’d still like to have that one-on-one time with him but that I’d also like to get to know Darlene, and not at karaoke where there are too many people and it’s too noisy. Al said he was "pleasantly surprised" by that.

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By now it was the end of August and it was time to go to Vegas. I had asked Petula to come with me. She said she wanted to go but she was in and out of hospital all summer with asthma problems so she wasn’t sure she’d be able to go. However, luck prevailed and she was fine for the trip.

On the flight there, I asked for the little chair that I need to get to the washroom. The flight attendant said they didn’t have such a chair onboard. I had asked my older sister to make sure, when she booked the flights, that they’d have that chair onboard. And I had checked their website which states that every flight has one. So I almost cried when the flight attendant said they didn’t have one. But then she checked with someone else on the plane and found out that they did, indeed, have one. She said she’d been working for Southwest Airlines for 11 or 14 years and no one had ever asked for that chair, so that’s why she didn’t think they had one. I guess that means that either people with disabilities don’t fly Southwest or they don’t have to go to the bathroom!

When Petula and I got to Vegas, it was 109 degrees Fahrenheit! Talk about hot!!! When we got to our hotel, I showed the front desk person my confirmation sheet. It said right on it that we would get a wheelchair accessible room with two double beds. But the front desk person said they didn’t have any wheelchair accessible rooms with two double beds. She said they could send us a roll-away bed if we wanted that. The luggage guy came up to our room with us and we talked to him about the bed situation. He said there would be no room in there for a roll-away bed and he was right. There was barely enough room for me with my wheelchair!!! There was a huge king size bed plus a huge dresser and a huge desk/table which took up most of the room. The bathroom was fairly accessible though, with room enough for my wheelchair and grab bars around the tub, so I liked that. So Petula and I decided to share the bed. As it turned out, the bed was so big we could have fit a third person in there!!! lol We didn’t interfere with each other’s sleeping at all, so that was great. She snored, but not as badly as Wanda, with whom I shared a room on the cruise. So I was able to sleep fairly well.

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The day after we arrived, we went to a Fan Get-Together with the Osmond Brothers. I thought it might be an informal thing where we’d all mix and mingle with the Brothers but it turned out to be the Brothers on stage and the rest of us sitting in the theatre seats. We didn’t get to mix and mingle with them at all, but it was still fun to be there. They had some door prizes and when they ran out of those, the Brothers started giving away stuff they had on their persons. Jimmy gave away some gas station credit card and he said there was still a bit of money on it. So that was fun.

That night I went to the Donny & Marie concert. I didn’t invite Petula because I wanted the highest priced ticket which included a Meet & Greet with Donny & Marie. Buying two tickets for that would have been way too expensive. So I just bought the one. I thought Petula might wander around the city on her own while I went to the concert but she decided to stay close to the theatre and wait for me, which was nice.

The concert was superb! It was so great to see Donny & Marie on stage together for the first time in almost 30 years!!! I used to love the Donny & Marie variety show in the ‘70's so I thorougly enjoyed seeing them perform together again after all these years. There was a photographer taking pictures of the audience before the concert so he took my picture too.

After the concert, we all lined up to meet Donny & Marie. When it was my turn, I went in. Donny was busy with someone else but saw me and said "How are you?" I just said "Hi!" because I saw that he was still busy.

Then Marie came out and said hi. She asked me where I’m from and if I’d been there before. When I said no, she said I look very familiar. We had a very quick but very nice chit-chat and, before I knew it, I was having my picture taken with Donny & Marie!!! What a fabulous experience, even though it was over in the blink of an eye!

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The next day Petula and I went to the Osmond Brothers’ concert. That was also superb!!! Wayne was doing his comedy thing again so Petula and I were killing ourselves laughing. And of course I loved hearing all their songs. It was a totally awesome Osmond weekend!!!

While in Vegas, I tried getting in touch with my nephew Dan, who lives down there. On Monday he finally called me, saying he’d been away for the weekend and had just gotten my message. He said he had two complimentary tickets for Petula and me to go to the Cirque de Soleil show "Mystere." We met up with Dan before the show at the Treasure Island Hotel. At one point Petula and I were on a bridge at the hotel and it was wall-to-wall people!!! Apparently there was some sort of outdoor show about to happen so people were waiting for that. The people seemed endless. I heard people saying they wanted to move out of my way but couldn’t because there was nowhere for them to move to! I am not good in crowds so I was about to freak when finally we got out of the mob and were on our way to the front of the hotel. That was really scary!!!

We saw Dan outside the hotel so we went inside with him for a drink before the show. It was a quick visit but nice nonetheless. I met Dan’s new girlfriend and she seemed nice. Dan is recently separated from his wife of about 2 years and his sister mentioned that he’s not into commitment so I was really tempted to tell Penny, his new girlfriend, that she should be careful not to fall for him. But of course I have no right to do that so I kept my mouth shut. I’d just hate to see her get hurt.

The show was really good but there was so much going on...below us, behind us, above us, etc., that at times we didn’t know where to look.

The next day was Tuesday and we had to leave Vegas. It was a very short, but wonderful and fun experience. Petula was a great help and she was a lot of fun so I had a great time and I think she did too. As my attendant, she got an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas, plus she got paid for 5 hours of work each day, even though she didn’t have to do much of anything for me. So it was a great deal for her, in my opinion.

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When I got back, I added Darlene, Al’s girlfriend, as a friend on Facebook and we ended up messaging each other about when the three of us could get together. I didn’t really like the fact that she seemed to be taking over as Al’s social coordinator but I figured that maybe she’d be more reliable than he had been all summer. She sent me a message that she and "Allan" (as she calls him) could come on such and such a day from 5:45 to 6:45. When I asked if that was the only time they could make it, she said that with each of their work schedules, Al’s son, their friends, and wanting time to be alone together, that was all the free time they had. I felt rather insulted by that but she said we could do it then or wait for another opportunity and I decided to just do it then. I wanted to get to know her so that I could feel more comfortable with her at karaoke, since by this time Al was going to karaoke with her and her family every week and I was tagging along.

So we arranged to meet that day from 5:45 to 6:45. They ended up being 20 minutes late. Al started off by asking about my trip to Vegas so I told them about the trip. By the time I was done talking about it and showing them my pictures, they had to leave. So I didn’t even get a chance to find out anything about Darlene! But they said they’d do it again in the future so hopefully we can get together again before the Christmas rush starts. And hopefully they’ll be able to spend more than 40 minutes here!

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Other than that, I’m still teaching. In the spring, I was teaching two Beginner classes and now I’m teaching only one. Registrations were down this time around because the community centre is charging a fee for each course now. Most courses are only $35 so it’s very reasonable. They think it will take a while for people to get used to that concept and then registrations will increase again. At first I was disappointed to not be teaching two classes because we are now being paid really well per hour and I was looking forward to the extra pocket money.

However, since Al met Darlene, he is no longer available on weekends to workout with me and I thought that if I was teaching for four hours each Monday, there’d be no chance to workout then either. I was concerned that I’d never be able to workout again and I knew that, even if Al couldn’t workout with me, I wanted to continue doing it. So I asked Petula if she’d help me and she said yes. So we’ve been going whenever it fits into both our schedules.

When I found out that I’d only be teaching from 12:15 to 2:15 on Mondays, I asked Al if we could workout in the mornings. He agreed so we’ve been doing that, although he sometimes has to cancel because he’s now doing it as part of his regular workday and sometimes he has too much to do to spare an hour for me. So sometimes even when we go, he can’t stay long so I don’t get to work on all the machines. But at least we’re doing it again and we’re talking again. Going for workouts with Petula and Al means that I sometimes get two workouts a week and that’s great!

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This week I reminded Al that we never actually did the song "A Whole New World" that he was supposed to practice with me and with the karaoke machine during the summer. He said he’s still up for it although we haven’t set a time for him to come over and practice. When I e-mailed him about needing to set some time aside to practice, he e-mailed back saying "k." That’s too non-commital for me. When people don’t commit, things don’t happen. So I don’t know if it’s really going to happen or not. But if it does, I know it’ll be awesome!!!

Asti is now 18.5 years old. She is a little feeble but, overall, still doing well. I am very grateful for that, although I’m painfully aware that one of these days I will lose her.

We just celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving two weeks ago and my brother Leo who lives in Texas came home for that. He was here in January for my mother’s birthday, while I was on my cruise, so Ididn’t see him then. It was great to see him again. He’s very easy to talk to and I know that if we lived in the same city, we’d get along really well. I have always gotten along really well with his wife, Cheryl, who was instrumental in my becoming independent and living on my own.

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My younger sister came up to Kitchener on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving so that she could come to karaoke with me. I had already invited Petula to come because I was feeling very ignored by Al at karaoke and, when I talked to him about it, he didn’t seem willing to change anything about his behaviour for my sake. So I figured I’d better bring people to keep me company since he wasn’t doing that.

It worked out extremely well. My sister and Al and I went outside together at one point and before I managed to get through the people and their chairs, Al and my sister were already outside talking. Later I found out that he told her it was nice of her to come up for karaoke and she said she did it because she knew I’ve been unhappy lately. He asked why. Can you believe it???!!!! He knows darn well I’m in love with him and I’m having a hard time with the fact that he has someone in his life now. Yet he actually asked my sister why I’ve been unhappy lately. She didn’t know how much he knew and didn’t know quite what to say so she just said "Well, you must have known how she felt." She meant that he must have known how I felt about him, but she left it at that and he didn’t push the issue.

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I have always felt extremely close to my younger sister, at least until about a year or two ago. We just seemed to gradually drift apart. We used to talk on the phone a lot but, over the course of the last year or two, I found that when I phoned her, she was never home and wouldn’t call me back. If she got back to me at all, it was online rather than by phone. So I wasn’t happy with that and eventually didn’t bother calling her at all. Then recently we had a chat online and she said at one point that she thought I didn’t care about her anymore because I don’t always ask her how things are going. I couldn’t believe she would think that, since she has always been #1 in my books! I admitted that if I don’t ask her how things are going in her life, it’s because I’m having trouble in mine. Naturally I don’t want to hear how well things are going with her and her boyfriend when I’m dealing with a broken heart and have never really had a boyfriend. So, rather than having to deal with the pain of hearing about how well things are going for her when they’re not going well for me, I don’t ask. I have since been making an effort to do just that though, so she knows that I do care.

During that conversation, I thanked her again for coming up for karaoke and she said we might do something again next month. So we might actually be able to recapture that closeness we used to have. She mentioned the other day that she might come up for karaoke again during the week just before Christmas, since she’s now on a volleyball team that meets every Tuesday (karaoke night) from now till that week. When she came up a few weeks ago, I wanted to sing the song "Picture" (by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crowe) with Al but he left before we got the chance. Darlene was driving and I think she was in a bit of a snit because Al was paying attention to us whereas she wants him to pay attention to her and only her. My sister’s impression of Al and Darlene was that Darlene seemed very possessive, as she had her arm on him all night long, and she seemed to be much more into Al than he is into her. I liked hearing that!!! lol

So if my sister comes up in December, I’m hoping I can sing "Picture" with Al as well as "A Whole New World" which we have yet to practice. I want her to hear how good we are!!! lol

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I have just become the volunteer Seniors Program Coordinator at the community centre where I teach. I thought it might give me the opportunity to learn some new things and meet some new people even if I don’t get paid for it. I went to a board meeting/Annual Meeting this week and they asked me to attend a session on Older Adult Strategy. I have no idea what it is but since I teach older adults and am now the Seniors Program Coordinator, it must be relevant to me. Again, it’s an opportunity to meet new people and maybe learn something new. So I’m looking forward to that.

Today I attended the Festival of Neighbourhoods finale. It’s an annual event that recognizes neighbourhoods that have held events for the purpose of getting to know their neighbours and possibly do something to help the community. As a representative of ILC, I present the Inclusion Award to the neighbourhood event that shows the most inclusivity in terms of including people of all ages, ethnicity, abilities, etc. I saw several people from the community centre there and I met the Mayor of Kitchener. I guess I’ve made it to the big times now!!! lol

On November 7, I’m going to a "Cluncheon." I think I wrote a while ago that someone organizes these Clay Aiken luncheons every few months but I was getting upset because they were always being held at a restaurant that is not wheelchair accesssible. So I e-mailed the woman after the last Cluncheon and told her how I felt. This time, the Cluncheon is at a wheelchair accessible restaurant so I’m going! Woohooooooooooooo!!! It should be fun!!!

I think you are now more or less caught up with the goings on in my life. And so much for the Readers Digest version! lol

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