A very happy holiday season to everyone out there! I hope you all spent a great time with your families, loved ones, dogs, cats, sock puppets, whatever!

To catch you up, I finally finished my apprenticeship in Ottawa, as it continued to snow. I felt better, so I actually went in for those final days, and finished ALL my work.

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I left with my fellow MJ student to the VIA train station. We got there about an hour and 40 minutes early, which I was instructed to do the previous night by a VIA Rail employee. So, we sat and played a few rounds of “pick a text message and see whose is better.” We had limited options, ok?

During the wait, we heard an announcement that a train coming FROM Toronto to Ottawa was running an hour and 20 minutes late. We didn’t pay it any mind … mistake #1.

The train was supposed to leave at 5, and we boarded at 4:45p.m. All good so far.

At 5:02 p.m., we were told that we had to wait for the Ottawa bound train to clear the tracks, and that we would have to wait about 60 minutes.

At 6:20 p.m., we finally left Ottawa, 80 minutes behind schedule.

When we reached our first destination, we had to wait ANOTHER 70 minutes for another train to pass us. So, for those who were keeping track, that puts us 150 minutes behind schedule! So, instead of getting in at 9:30 p.m., we were going to arrive at 11:40 p.m!!!!!

In total, on the train ride, I spent basically 7 hours on a train ride that was only supposed to take 4 and a half!

There was one bright spot on the ride, however.

I brought along my favourite movie on DVD: BRAVEHEART!

It is, after many long hours of contemplation, my favourite movie.

That movie has everything: Action, Drama, Comedy, Blood, Scottish people, a crazy Irishman, some nudity, bagpipes, basically historically accurate (not quite, but pretty close) and, of course, the beautiful Scottish and Irish scenery.

Everytime I watch that movie, I enjoy it. Not many movies maintain a constant level of enjoyment. I would encourage everyone to watch it, as it has something for everyone. Bloody good violence for the guys, and a good, but not overly mushy, love story for that girls.

Watch it, you’ll thank me later 😉