Damn cats. Digger woke me up this morning around 5:30 or so, being super-affectionate and wanting to be patted. He was doing this before I left, so I don't know what the reason is, but... argh! I'm tired! :(

I also got my Buffy season 4 in the mail today, so it's a good thing that I'm on the last disc of Sex and the City; I'll still have something to occupy me in those five minutes here and there that I get to myself. :)

Of course, I'm into season 6 of the Buffy episodes I'm watching on my computer, so what's a little repetition, eh?

I told my folks at some point during the trip that if anyone asks me if I had a nice vacation, I think I'm going to cry. Of course, no one at either workplace (aside from D and E) knows about Mike's death, so all they know (if I told them anything) is that I was going to NB for my cousin's wedding. No reason to think that that's a sad occasion, right? Well, I'm telling everyone now within reading distance of this thing, please don't ask me if it was a nice trip. It really wasn't. Here's how the trip went, very shortly.

Wednesday morning, my mom and I left the house at 5. We kept in touch with my dad and sister through text-messaging (along with that and the long distance, my next cell bill will *not* be pretty), and met up with them at a rest stop just inside the American border and then later at the Bangor mall, in Maine. Long story short, we arrived at my grandmother's place about 13 driving hours later, in N.B. We got there around, perhaps, 9 at night.

Thursday morning, Nanny, the sis and I went shopping for about say, an hour. Drove back to her place, my cousin visited for a bit (yes, the one getting married), then my folks got home, we packed, and drove to my grandfather's place in Halifax. Driving time, about 4 hours.

Arrived at my grandfather's place. Brought our stuff inside, visited with him and my aunt for an hour or two. Drove over to Theresa and the kids' place. We got there after 10, they arrived sometime later, we visited with them until about 12:30 and drove back to my grandfather's place. Went to bed.

Friday morning, got up. Mom, Dad and I drove down to the mall for about an hour, where I bought some postcards and presents, as well as a CD I had changed my mind on (glad I bought it; Simple Plan, it's good Canadian music and a decent album). Mom and Dad changed, we got my sister, off we went to the funeral home for 1.

Arrived at the funeral home, kinda-not-really visited with the family for a bit (no one was really talking). We were all assembled in one room (I'd say there was about 20 of us), and the body was in the other room. People were going in in small groups to say their final goodbyes or prayers or steal things. I went in by myself during one lull; no one else from my family went (my dad thinks the custom is barbaric, a view held over from his father... plus he said he could see from where he stood, and maybe he couldn't handle it). At one point, after the first time E's family went in, she came over to my dad for a hug and such.

Stayed there about 40 minutes, then one of the directors came to shoo us all out and start us to the church. Went to the church, Mom, sister and I got seats, Dad was a pallbearer. The service was about an hour long, then we went downstairs for the reception. Btw, did I mention there were about 700 people at the service? They had a service and viewing at the funeral home the night before, and E said there were about 1000 people there -- they were worried they might get in trouble for violating fire codes at some point. They held a prayer service after the viewing on Thursday night, so no eulogy was given at the funeral (I was told it was a Catholic tradition, but I could be wrong).

Funeral over, we stayed at the reception about an hour. Drove back to Grandpa's place, changed, then hit the road back to Saint John. I mailed my postcards, so people should see them in about a week or so. :P I bought some more in Sackville, N.B., but I forgot to mail them, so that'll get done today on my way to work. :P :)

Anyhow, another four hours in the car later, back at Nanny's. My cousin was having her rehearsal and party that night, and we'd been invited, but as it was about 10 when we got in and we were all pretty drained, we vetoed Dad's question as to whether or not we were going. Mom called Nanny, and the party part had just started at that time. :P We stayed up and did various things; I made some phone calls and wrote in my books and read. Nanny and Puppy got back sometime around 2, I think; Dad was teasing my sister that Nanny was staying until the booze and coke ran out. Yes, cocaine. This is my father, ladies and gentlemen. :P :)

Saturday morning, finally got to sleep in. Didn't rush to get ready, but I didn't need to. We were all moving at a fairly leisurely pace, except Dad and sis, who were involved in the wedding (Dad as photographer, sister as flutist). Had the wedding, had the reception, Dad and I came back to Nanny's (I will go into more on those later -- believe me, that was a mess and a half). Hung around and read and whatnot, just enjoying the peace and quiet. The rest came back about an hour or so later, and we ranted about the wedding for many an hour. I kept comparing it to Greg and Madeleine's wedding; as much as I didn't see the behind-the-scenes things at that one, and I did hear, I can't help but think that there wasn't nearly as many problems with theirs as there was with my cousin's. Bah. I'll expand on that later, I promise.

Anyhow, I went to bed late, my phone rang late, I tossed and turned all night (habit with me when I know I'm getting up early), and then I got up around 10 to 6, surprised Dad hadn't yet gotten me up (as we were supposed to be on the road at 6). I had some breakfast, took a shower, woke him up. We hit the road around 7, had no problems getting home, and were at our door by 6:30; with the time change, that's another 12-hour driving trip.

Dad kept his odometer running the entire trip, never reset it; his car clocked just under 3500 km in driving time. Across 5 days, that's a *lot* of driving per day. Please don't ask me if my trip was fun or relaxing, okay? :)

Oh wait, but a few funnies from the trip (aside from my family, itself): every event I was at in the last week, someone called. At Greg and Madeleine's wedding, my sister called (bad news), and D called. On the drive down, Mark and Jay called me. At my graduation, D called from work (he thought he had to work, but didn't -- I thought they might've been trying to get me to come in, as they did the day of Greg and Madeleine's wedding) and E called (we had plans that night, he was trying to sorta confirm them). At the funeral, Ben text-messaged me. At the wedding, D called. It seems people love me best when they can't get a hold of me. ;)