"A million monkeys banging on a million typewriters for a million years will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare."

I had an audit exam to write today at University of Toronto and decided to take the TTC from Kipling Station rather than try to navigate downtown during the day. The plan was to park at Kipling Station, but getting there just after lunch, both lots were completely full.

I ended up driving up to the university only to see Toronto's abundance of parking lots disappear, turning around and heading back to Front St. where I finally parked and took the subway from Union Station.

What an aggrivating waste of time (and gas), especially before an exam. You would think that a province trying to encourage people to leave their cars at home would make it a little more convenient to do so. Same problem at the Oakville train station.

Last time I checked my marginal tax rate was somewhere around 30%. That's not including consumption taxes like GST, PST and liquor tax. Where the hell is it going?

Every year I agonize over what kind of presents to get my parents. Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays, etc. Mom especially... she is definitely lacking in the hobbies and interests category. This year was no different.

For example, last year I sent my parents to an improv show featuring Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from Whose Line is it Anyway?. They returned from it telling me that it wasn't worth what I spent.

Last year I gave up and just got my mom flowers. She complained about that too, telling me they were just going to die and be thrown out.

This year I decided to get mom a one-hour massage from a spa nearby. I thought it would be something nice as she never treats herself to that kind of stuff. Wrong again.

She opened the card, asked me what to do with it, then asked how much I spent and then if I could get my money back. I guess the only safe thing to give her is cash, but of course that's stupid too as they do the same for my birthday so at the end of the day we just end up swapping bills.

Next year I think I'll just forget it all together and go golfing instead.

So I had my root canal done the other day. It wasn't as bad as I expected, based on all the horror stories you hear about. It was basically like getting a filling done, except they dig deeper and it takes longer. With the freezing they did my only feeling during the hour and a half was boredom.

There's a temporary filling there for now. As there's not much of a nerve anymore I don't feel any pain, though they tell me the third or fourth day after I may feel some discomfort. Next step is to get something more permanent from my regular dentist.

Fridays are normally my beer lunch with my DuPont friends, but they told me not to eat for two hours. So, I checked my prescriptions for any alcohol warnings and after seeing none made it a liquid lunch instead. I just had to nurse my beer a little to keep it from dribbling out of the bad side of my mouth.

I've been having a toothache for the last couple of weeks that has been getting progressively worse until last night I couldn't even drink a glass of water because the cold was putting me in pain. The rest of the time was a dull throbbing.

I saw the dentist today and apparently one of my old fillings had a hairline crack and was letting stuff build up under it, to the point where I got a cavity and subsequently an infection of the nerve. I had a checkup recently but as they only do x-rays every other visit he didn't pick it up.

So... he drilled to removed the filling. Then drilled some more to see how far the cavity went. Now I need a root canal. With travel and stuff the only next available appointment with the specialist is end of the month, so until then I have a molar with a huge gaping hole (he didn't re-fill it), some antibiotics and painkillers. Lucky me.

In other news, I wrote my US Tax Law exam Monday. I'm hoping that the prof is generous with the part-marks as that's the only way I'm going to pass this course. Go me.

I made it home early yesterday morning, but not without great difficulty. The flight from Lima was on time and uneventful, but the journey from Ayacucho to Lima was a different story.

First because either my alarm didn't work or I slept through it, I woke up an hour after I expected to, and at 5:40 AM I had five minutes to get my things together and go. Then I got to the airport, and despite having bought my ticket a week in advance and having confirmed my flight the day before, they overbooked the plane and bumped me. Both flights that morning were full and there were no more until the next day.

I had half an hour to get from the airport to the travel agent, refund my money, get to the bus station, buy a ticket and board the last bus to Lima. I barely made it.

The thing is, my trip to Lima went from a one hour flight to an eight hour bus ride through the mountains. The driver drove way too fast and I could feel the vehicle leaning through the corners. The longer trip also meant that I didn't get to spend the day with Milagros in Lima. I had Marisol call her and let her know.

Although the drive was scenic, by the evening I had had enough. What I wasn't expecting was to see Milagros there waiting at the bus station for me with her mother. That was so sweet! They brought me back to their place for dinner and then Milagros and Elena, her sister, kept me company at the airport.

Now it's back to my old life here. I work today but I'm auditing the night shift in Toronto, so I don't have to be there until 10 PM. It actually worked out, because I needed the sleep.

I've got to say though, I find myself looking at things differently over here after being in Ayacucho. I've been told that the real culture shock happens when you get back. Now I know what they mean.