I spent my afternoon on a boat. I've been on boats before. I've been on fast boats before. I've never gone on an impromptu boat trip to a town an hour away to get ice cream. But hey, when someone says, "do you want to spend a couple of hours on a boat this afternoon?" you don't say no.

It was fantastic. It wasn't as sunny as it could have been, I got saltwater to the face at least five times, and my ass is going to ache tomorrow from all the bouncing. And it was so worth it. Almost perfect.

I think I need to find a friend who owns a boat.

I'm coming down from it a little now, but I'm cleaning the house for my birthday party tomorrow. That, and I'm going to see the new Harry Potter movie tomorrow afternoon... after my early-morning trip to the passport office. (Theoretically, Canadians can travel into the States without a passport, but I'm not going to risk it. And if I have one, it might inspire me to make an impromptu trip farther than the Sunshine Coast.)

The party should be good. We're having a BBQ (for some reason we both love entertaining in this house...) and according to the Weather Network, it's going to be cloudy with sunny breaks and 13° in the morning, variable cloudiness and 17° in the afternoon, and mainly clear and 16° in the evening. Sounds tolerable (for any Americans who've stumbled here, 17° 'Canadian' is about 63° 'American'). It just better not rain. I already have to compete with the hockey game. Stupid Flames were supposed to win yesterday!

I went into London Drugs today, to pick up photos and toiletries that I need for a trip in July. Turns out you can make all your purchase at the photo counter, and since they weren't busy, I decided to do so.

I start emptying my basket; mini shampoo, mini conditioner, mini deodorant, mini toothpaste. You get the picture. The girl at the counter smiles at me and says, "going on a trip?"

I smile back, tell her yes, to California. I'm obviously going on a trip, but then, she's just making conversation.

Then she nods and says, "I can always tell."

Gee! What tipped you off? Is it the $30 I'm spending on travel-sized cosmetics? Or perhaps it's the red suitcase I happen to be lugging around with me? And no, she wasn't being ironic.

I try to tell myself that people that people are smarter than that. That as a whole, our species has developed beyond the point where we feel clever simply because we sometimes pay attention. Then every once in a while, I get a wake-up call.