Have you ever been to Africa?

I am in London, Ontario. It is terribly boring here. I did 2 presentations this morning and afterward head to my hotel where I slept for an hour, checked my work emails, then head to the local mall for something to do. There were no sidewalks for half of my walk. But it doesn't matter because everyone here drives. I realized that it will be very difficult for me to ever live in a smaller city like this where I can't walk or take public transit most places. That realization made me sad and happy at the same time.

On the way to do my presentations this morning, I took a cab. My cabbie was very friendly and asked me about my work. Suddenly he asked me, "Have you ever been to Africa?". I laughed and said "How could you tell?!!" I swear, it's like I wait for people to ask me that. He made my day! He was from Sudan originally so we chatted about Africa and Canada. It was strange but great. Seriously, how did he know?

Walking home from the mall, I was depressed. It was time for dinner and I really didn't want to go to a restaurant, although the idea of room service seemed just as gloomy. I am normally ok with eating alone in restaurants. I don't mind seeing movies or going places by myself. But for some reason, it being Halloween, it felt really sad that I was alone. Like how it is sad if you are alone on New Years or Valentine's Day. But for Halloween, it is like if you are alone, it means you have no friends. I know that isn't the case and that I am out of town for work and that I have lots of friends all over the world but I didn't want it to appear that I didn't have any friends to the stupid waiter who would be dressed up and looking at me funny as I go out to eat by myself on Halloween night.

So I went back to the hotel and ordered a completely amazing pizza. The best pizza ever. Seriously. It was delicious. And then I watched Donnie Darko. How have I never seen this film before? It was perfect for Halloween night and just so great. So good.

There was only one problem. Patrick Swayze. I know that I am supposed to respect him or something for being in such a great film (despite the fact that he plays this evil, smarmy character), but I really hate him. There is just something about him and his chin and his weird hair and eyes and the way he moves like a ballerina that creeps me out. He is the sole reason why I am one of the only females I know that doesn't like the movie Dirty Dancing. Just like how John Travolta and his similarly creepy chin, hair, eyes and dancey swagger have always made me hate the movie Grease. Am I the only one?