Everything --- I'm so very happy!!

I just got back from my first capoeira class in almost two-and-a-half years!!! I've been waiting for this night for so long!

While we're at it, let me just mention here all the things I've been hoping to do and more:

Family:
I've moved in with my sister's family, been here two weeks, and I'm at home already. It's a wonderful family, and I've made myself very helpful.

Leigh:
I've officially started watching Leigh (my niece) four days per week (missed a day last week, as I spreained my neck - quite painful and debilitating, a neck sprain is!), and it seems that she is dealing rather well, and putting up with crazy ol' Uncle Fishbird's crazyties.

Performance Studies:
My second goal for my stay here is to get published in at least one journal relating to Performance Studies - and therefore write a worthwhile article. I've been researching, picking up where I had left off some six months ago, and I should be conducting more research at Universite Laval (the one big university in Quebec city, where Charlotte is working on her PhD).

Capoeira:
As I mentioned, I just started, and I'm comblé (delighted, so to speak). Did I mention it's a short 15-minute WALK from my new appartment? so I can even JOG to my capoeira class! - oh wait, I did!!

Role-playing:
There are two roleplaying game clubs that I've found so far. I'll be joining the one at the university, starting a Werewolf game on Friday!

Go:
There are THREE go clubs in Quebec, and I'm waiting to hear back from the one at Universite Laval - catching a theme yet?

Children's Workshop:
Charlotte leads a "values workshop" for parents and their children under 5 every other week, which I will be helping with

Diet & Health:
While she's not a vegetarian, Charlotte has all the same interests and diets as I do, and since we've made good headway individually, we're benefitting from each others research and practice (including face and hair care for the danio!)

Study Circles:
There's a good chance I'll be able to tutor ("animer" in French - cool term!) a Ruhi Book study circle during my stay

Mandarin:
I've scheduled a couple of days per week to work on my Mandarin language skills

Baha'i Association:
There's a Baha'i Association on Laval campus, in which I will be taking part.

Google:
I'm in love with everything Google, and I want everybody to know about it! Gmail is the best e-mail service on the internet (I've tried 40-50 services of the last 7 years), plus they have weblogs (what you're reading), free image software (Picasa, a fancy software that's both full of options and user-friendly), picture sharing (Hello), Groups, instant messaging ("Google Talk" - user name rcdanio), and a community of friends to which I can't belong yet (if you, dear reader, are a member of orkut, I would very much like an invite!). Of course most of these beautiful thingies interact seemlessly with one another.

Bonus (as if any were needed):
Charlotte makes coffee every morning, and at many other times too; I have my own "room", marked off by a makeshift curtain of beautiful forest green fabric; Charlotte's family and I will be visiting Richmond, Virginia in just three weeks; I'll be attending two conferences (hotel room and all) with my sister, for her lab research (I'll actually be babysitting!); Charlotte and Guy-Claude (husband) had been watching my favorite series until two years ago, and I happen to have all of the episodes from the place they left off, and we're watching them a few nights each week; I having amazing, fascinating dreams; I'm listening to Evanescence!; I have a new desktop which looks totally sweet and doesn't even use a task bar or a Start menu!