new schools; bar fights; weddings; whatever

took p. to the waldorf school here in calgary for a trial day to see how he likes it and if he "works" with the rest of the class. if so, he'll probably be going there next year. it's a very nice and calm atmosphere and within a couple of minutes p. was smiling and playing with the other kids. so different than his current school, which is part of alberta's woefully underfunded public system; this is ironic as we are the richest province in the country. but hey, why not stack up billions in surpluses every year (literally) even if it comes at the expense of the education system. i mean, who needs educated citizens, right? *sigh*

i hope things go well today at the school for p. so that he can enjoy better opportunities next year. they have german, music and painting today in addition to the main lesson plan. neat.

a couple nights ago i went out for some drinks and dancing. ran into one of my ex's sister's recent ex, who is on the police force in town here. he was with a very pretty woman who happened to have been born on the same day as me. he invited me to join their table so i did and we sat and talked and drank. they left around midnight and i followed shortly afterwards ... only to walk out into a fist fight.

some guy who was there with his 4 sisters thought some other guy was being belligerent with one of the sisters. turns out the brother was just very, very drunk and was one of those people who gets emotional and confused when he is drunk. great. so he goes to attack this one guy right at the entrance of the club, and security throws him out. i was right behind him on the way out and once outside mr. i-am-my-sisters-protector sees some other random guy and thinks it's the same guy from inside (it wasn't) and litterally tackles him to the ground, but not before hip checking one of his (also drunk) sisters into the pavement, scraping her knee up pretty badly.

i went over to make sure she was ok and look up to find drunk brother on top of bewildered bystander and punching him in the face. security was nowhere since it was now happening out on the sidewalk which is not their concern. i helped pull them apart; well, i did the pulling and the sisters did the shrieking. i separated the two guys and had a quick look at the bewildered bystander's head, which was a bit cut up at this point with a rather impressive goose egg above the right eye. i talked the guy down from going back for round 2, and this is when the cops arrived.

they spoke to each of the people involved, then to me. nobody pressed charges, and the cops left. drunk brother was all whiney at this point and seemed to still be looking for retribution for the imagine act against his sister. so i called over a couple of cabs and started putting people in them so as to prevent another fight from breaking out.

one of the sisters said they were going for some food, would i like to come along? i said sure and jumped in the cab. i drank water while they wolfed down food full of meat (drunk brother ordered a steak; surprise!). the youngest sister went to the bathroom and dropped her cell phone in a toilet. that was pleasant. drunk brother fished it out for her and proceeded to wash it. probably good from a hygene stand point, but one would think not so great for the electronics. amazingly, after drying out the thing seemed to work.

over the meal the sister who invited me asked if i was a bouncer at the club. this made me laugh a little, as i don't exactly have the typical bouncer body (you know, 6 foot plus and steroid ridden). oh well ... came home, fell asleep, woke up.

felt a bit better about the multiple instances of dullardism i had to endure the day before by email and on web forums.

in the (postal) mail waiting for me was an invitation to my mother's wedding. this'll be marriage #3 for her and as it is in about 4 weeks time and on kauai in hawaii, i don't think i'll be making it. unfortunate.

last night t. came and dropped off the keys to her mailbox so i can check whilst she spends the next 3 weeks in japan.

and so starts my week to land me on wednesday. new schools, old friends, weird nights out, wedding announcements ... whatever.