Housemate bonding time

Today was so much fun. Turns out Jess and I get along very well, and we both like to bake. This could be a dangerous combination. We started today by going to the Public Market, where we both bought enough food that we could barely carry any more. Me at the market without the bike limiting what I buy spells trouble. So, once we got home, we scrounged up some lunch and proceeded to bake stuff. Jess made snickerdoodles and I made zucchini muffins and everybody got to happily eat all afternoon. Then we both took naps, woke up, and started to make dinner. We decided on black bean burgers (Jordan is vegetarian, and Jess and I are both happy to eat veggie), which had me a little intimidated at first, but were amazingly easy. We didn't even follow a recipe, just sorta made it up. A combination of black beans, crumbled toast, red bell pepper, onion, parsley, chili powder, an egg, some salsa, and I think that's it. All mashed together and formed into burger-shaped things, then grilled. They tasted like a burrito turned into a burger. We also made corn (6 ears for a dollar!) and drank some really good Oregon wine. It was a delicious dinner, and I nice way to get to know my new housemates.

I wish I could spend more time with Jordan before school starts for me, but school has already started for him so he spends most of his time studying for an upcoming neuro exam. Memorizing the parts of the brain and the names of the blood vessels and stuff. And he proves to me every day that I made the right choice by not going to medical school.

Speaking of medical stuff, I got attacked by either a nasty bug of some kind or the most potent poisonous plant I've ever encountered sometime during my visit. What started as some ugly bumps on my legs first turned into angry red splotches covered in blisters and have now become scabby, weepy, nasty and even bigger than before. I'm hoping that the scabbiness means they're healing finally. I took pictures of them, but they're pretty gross so I won't post them unless requested. And, I'm starting to find new angry red bumps on my legs and now on my forearm. I'm worried that by scratching I've spread whatever the original cause of the reaction was around. But, that doesn't make sense, since these things have been there for a week and a half and there's no way I've still got residual poisonous substances on me. I just don't know, but at least I've got access to a whole lot of nurses and nurse practitioners if it doesn't start to heal up.

Oh, last night Paul and I went to see Iron Man. I know, I'm slow about these things. But, it was really good. Tomorrow we're going to go spend the afternoon/evening at his friend Eric's cottage on a lake somewhere (not Lake Ontario). It will be fun. I've started meeting more people in the Paul/Sarah/Ronen friend group, and I like them all. And they play lots of board games, which I like even more. I was a little intimidated at first by the people at a board game night on Thursday, but managed to relax after the first game or so and actually started joining in the conversation.

I think that's it for now. I'm going to go curl up with my new Neil Gaiman book stolen from Jess (I love Neil Gaiman! Why didn't I start reading this stuff earlier?) and chill out a little before bed. Two more days of vacation...